Hydrogen-Rich Water to Enhance Exercise Performance: A Review of Effects and Mechanisms

Abstract

Background: Hydrogen-rich water (HRW) has garnered significant interest within the sports and exercise science community due to its selective antioxidant properties. Despite its potential benefits, comprehensive reviews specifically addressing its effects on athletic performance are limited. This review aims to assess the impact of HRW on sports performance and explore the underlying molecular biological mechanisms, with the goal of elucidating how HRW might enhance athletic performance. Methods: This review synthesizes research on HRW by examining articles published between 1980 and April 2024 in databases such as PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science. Results: It highlights HRW’s effects on various aspects of athletic performance, including endurance, strength, sprint times, lunge movements, countermovement jump height, and time to exhaustion. While the precise mechanisms by which HRW affects athletic performance remain unclear, this review investigates its general molecular biological mechanisms beyond the specific context of sports. This provides a theoretical foundation for future research aimed at understanding how HRW can enhance athletic performance. HRW targets the harmful reactive oxygen and nitrogen species produced during intense exercise, thereby reducing oxidative stress—a critical factor in muscle fatigue, inflammation, and diminished athletic performance. HRW helps to scavenge hydroxyl radicals and peroxynitrite, regulate antioxidant enzymes, mitigate lipid peroxidation, reduce inflammation, protect against mitochondrial dysfunction, and modulate cellular signaling pathways. Conclusions: In summary, while a few studies have indicated that HRW may not produce significant beneficial effects, the majority of research supports the conclusion that HRW may enhance athletic performance across various sports. The potential mechanisms underlying these benefits are thought to involve HRW’s role as a selective antioxidant, its impact on oxidative stress, and its regulation of redox homeostasis. However, the specific molecular biological mechanisms through which HRW improves athletic performance remain to be fully elucidated.

Study details

Article type

Review

Disease / injury model

Exercise-related use of H2

Dose comparison

Studies included in the review used various HRW dosages (500 mL to 2520 mL) and hydrogen concentrations (0.45–1.9 ppm), comparing their effects on exercise performance and recovery.

Dose-dependent effect

Yes

Outcome

Positive

Findings

The majority of reviewed studies support that hydrogen-rich water (HRW) may enhance various aspects of athletic performance, such as endurance, strength, sprint times, muscle function, and recovery, primarily through its selective antioxidant effects and modulation of oxidative stress and inflammation. However, some studies report no significant benefit, indicating variability in outcomes depending on exercise type, population, and study design.