Unpacking the hype behind hydrogen water

I keep seeing advertisements for hydrogen-infused water. Can these products do anything for my health?

- Caroline Hopkins

One woman on TikTok said it cured her sore throat and fever. Another wrote that it can help you lose weight, increase your energy and strengthen your immune system.

Drink hydrogen water, some advertisements go on to say, and you will enjoy reduced pain and inflammation, improved gut health, superior hydration, increased endurance, a better mood and even slowed signs of aging.

Hydrogen water is made by simply adding more Hs into your H2O. But when it comes to its purported health advantages, researchers are skeptical.

"For almost every study that has shown a benefit, there's another study that questions the benefit," said Dr. Mitchell Rosner, who specializes in fluid and electrolyte disorders at UVA Health in Charlottesville, Virginia. Here is what people know.

WHAT IS HYDROGEN WATER?

Hydrogen water is often packaged in sleek drink pouches or aluminum cans. Some brands sell dissolvable hydrogen tablets that you can plop into your water, or high-tech bottles that you fill with regular water and then infuse with hydrogen by pressing a button.

Some of these drinks, also called hydrogen-rich and hydrogen-infused water, have added flavors or electrolytes, but the basic product involves regular water plus hydrogen gas molecules, or H2, mixed in.