Editor’s Word: This text is a reprint. It was initially printed December 15, 2019.
Alex Tarnava, whom you might not have heard of earlier than, is the inventor of the open-container molecular hydrogen tablets, thus making it extensively out there in a handy type.
What Is Molecular Hydrogen?
Molecular hydrogen (H2) — two hydrogen atoms mixed collectively — is a gasoline with very distinctive and selective antioxidant results that particularly goal probably the most dangerous free radicals. It really works primarily by enhancing and optimizing the redox standing of the cell when wanted.
Consequently, you see enhancements in superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione ranges, for instance. Not solely does hydrogen selectively scale back probably the most poisonous radicals, however it may assist stop an extra (which turns into poisonous) of the free radicals from being produced within the first place. It is a very highly effective prevention mechanism.
H2 additionally prompts the Nrf2 pathway when wanted. Nrf2 is a transcription issue that, when activated, goes into the cell’s nucleus and binds to the antioxidant response ingredient within the DNA.
It then induces the transcription of additional cytoprotective enzymes equivalent to glutathione, superoxide dismutase catalase, glutathione peroxidase, part II enzymes, heme-1 oxygenase and lots of others.
A landmark paper1 on molecular hydrogen got here out in Nature Drugs in 2007, exhibiting 2% hydrogen gasoline was efficient at stopping mind injury from ischemia reperfusion and, as an antioxidant, has highly effective therapeutic purposes. Hydrogen is the smallest molecule within the universe, and is impartial and nonpolar, which is why its bioavailability is so nice.
Tarnava’s Journey of Discovery
As is so usually the case, Tarnava’s curiosity in molecular hydrogen and his subsequent invention was born out of a private well being problem that required him to dig deeper for an answer. He explains:
“I had one other enterprise that allowed me plenty of freedom for athletics and train. I used to be coaching six to eight hours a day. I used to be coaching in varied martial arts and CrossFit. Then I acquired actually sick. It materialized in sudden-onset narcolepsy. I had central nervous system shut down.
My heavy lifts weren’t altered however I could not bounce on a plate, whereas a few weeks earlier than I had the 54-inch plyometric bounce. I used to be sleeping 16 to fifteen hours a day. I would go to sleep if I sat down for a couple of minute. My bloodwork was weird … My C-reactive protein was 34 [mg/dL].”
Your C-reactive protein ought to ideally be under 1 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL), so Tarnava clearly had large irritation occurring. He was additionally iron-deficient and anemic, regardless of consuming plenty of crimson meat and leafy greens.
“It lasted for weeks. They could not determine it out … When the mud settled, my shoulder was frozen. All of the irritation, the narcolepsy and the surplus sleeping simply went away, however I had a frozen left shoulder. I mainly had arthritis in eight spots in a single day. At the moment, hydrogen was already on my radar, so I purchased a machine for $5,000.”
Inventing Molecular Hydrogen Tablets
The issue was, the hydrogen water machine was solely producing a really small quantity of hydrogen gasoline. When he examined the water for its hydrogen content material, Tarnava discovered it had a focus of 0.03 components per million (ppm), which is nearly nothing. In the long run, that is what spurred Tarnava to develop molecular hydrogen tablets that may ship a constant concentrated dose when dissolved in water.
“I used a little bit of a Ray Kurzweilian technique after I was creating the tablets,” he says. “I discovered consultants. I discovered engineers. I discovered pharmaceutical formulation companies. I contracted a physicist, a chemist and biochemist …
Finally [I succeeded in making the tablets]. I failed a pair thousand occasions … I used to be studying plenty of the research. They’re utilizing magnesium in several methods. I attempted magnesium sticks. It wasn’t working …
I began seeking to make powders and tablets … At first, the [metallic] magnesium was actually laborious to get. I needed to undergo the Division of Protection and the state division to be compliant with eight completely different authorities companies to make use of the magnesium.
Often whenever you’re shopping for a magnesium, it is a salt … [Metallic magnesium] is reactive — it is nonionic, elemental magnesium … It’s extremely hazardous to deal with in manufacturing. Now we have very, very managed manufacturing.
Nevertheless it’s a really secure pill. So, our hydrogen pill shouldn’t be HAZMAT (hazardous materials). It isn’t explosive. It isn’t flammable. However it’s going to break up the hydrogen off your water …
We’re utilizing a really particular pharmaceutical grade magnesium that is floor in very particular methods for us to get the nano bubbles … Once I first began tinkering round, I had a few of it examined. I used to be getting magnesium in from like Russia and China that was being mislabeled.
I later discovered they have been unlawful for export from each locations. It is closely managed within the U.S. Simply to get it out to Canada, it was an eight-month course of with the state division doing background checks, facility checks and in-person interviews to ensure I had a authentic function for these things.”
Poor High quality Hydrogen Tablets Could Be Excessive in Contaminants
Tarnava’s tablets are additionally examined and compliant for heavy metals. Tarnava tells the story of a competitor who didn’t hassle going by the intricate certification processes Tarnava has adopted and bought magnesium from a fireworks reseller, which resulted in tablets that have been excessive in lead.
“We’re ultra-compliant in our heavy metallic ranges. You want 16 tablets a day to hit the brink for California Proposition 65, which is about 10 occasions stricter than the pharmaceutical rules on it, which is even a number of occasions stricter than some rules … For complement rules, I feel you can take one thing like a few hundred tablets a day …
We went to nice lengths to make sure purity and to make sure the framework was in place earlier than we began [production], which can be why we’re pursuing a lot analysis with public groups beneath no publication settlement.
Now we have 5 publications already in three years … Now we have seven extra which can be underway and 6 within the starting stage which can be ending up their ethics approvals and protocols. And we now have 4 outstanding universities conducting rodent trials utilizing our tablets.
In whole, we’re now working with 9 or 10 public universities world wide to additional the analysis and help in any means we will, as a result of we need to know extra about the way it works, what dose must be used and when it must be taken. The information is beginning to come out. Issues are positively rising. Larger dose, greater focus and intermittent pulse appears to be one of the best for people.”
The Drawback with Molecular Hydrogen Water Mills
Earlier than molecular hydrogen tablets, one of the vital generally used methods to generate molecular hydrogen water was by the usage of water ionizers that purport to make hydrogen.
Nevertheless, they will not work except you may have whole dissolved solids (TDS) equivalent to minerals within the water. You can not use reverse osmosis or distilled water. They can even cease working as soon as the plates used to separate the water get calcified from the TDS. Tarnava explains:
“What finally ends up taking place is that they’ll nonetheless make hydrogen, however it does not dissolve as a result of the bubbles are too huge. It’s going to nonetheless make the identical quantity of hydrogen, however it’s simply out and in. It does not dissolve within the water.
In a lab, once they’re utilizing pure gasoline to dissolve by a beaker, it would take half an hour of effervescent. Liters and liters of hydrogen to get to 1.6 ppm … However the smaller in bubbles you go, the simpler it’s to dissolve.
What I discovered is whenever you even go into the low nano vary, you may quasi-dissolve this cloud of gasoline that does not totally dissolve with out accompanying stress, however it additionally does not escape. So, you may get, in a half a liter, 8 to 10 ppm [of molecular hydrogen], as an alternative of the 0.1 ppm that plenty of these ionizers offer you.
That is vital as a result of lots of people take a look at the rodent analysis and fail to correctly [calculate] … simply how rather more hydrogen mice are consuming per physique weight than people.
While you take a 25-gram mouse and convert it to an 80-kilogram particular person (that is 176 kilos for American viewers; that is the typical weight of the American), that particular person would want to drink the equal of 12.8 liters of water a day to get the identical quantity [of hydrogen] that mouse drinks.
Consequently, it’s important as a result of that you must elevate your mobile concentrations of hydrogen. In the event you’re solely consuming half a liter or a liter a day, then that you must [raise] the focus to get that correct dosage.”
Pulsing and Dosing
Molecular hydrogen is finest taken cyclically or pulsed. In the event you take it repeatedly — say you are consuming hydrogen water all day lengthy — the impact appears to dissipate and might truly vanish altogether.
As famous by Tarnava, your physique naturally produces about 10 liters (L) of hydrogen gasoline every day by micro organism that break down carbohydrates in your digestive system.
It could appear odd that taking a comparatively small quantity of supplemental hydrogen gasoline could make a distinction, however whenever you take a look at the mobile response between ingestion and inhalation, consuming hydrogen water can double your mobile focus of hydrogen gasoline. For about 5 minutes, your blood stage peaks, and that is when useful adjustments in cell signaling and gene expression happen.
“Most of what hydrogen does is oblique response from altered cell signaling and adjustments in gene expression,” Tarnava explains. “We merely want that pulsed dose to change all these items, [because the data shows] once they’ve given steady gasoline administration, and continually raised the mobile focus, it is had no profit, even at a a lot greater dose, whereas when pulsed, the impact is sweet.”
Within the interview, Tarnava discusses hydrogen gasoline dosing utilizing each ppm and mg. To make clear, ppm and mg/L are similar and each discuss with the focus of hydrogen within the water. The mg refers back to the precise dosage. As famous by Tarnava, getting the proper acute dosage is vital for optimum advantages.
While you dissolve two molecular hydrogen tablets in 1 liter of water, you get 8 to 10 ppm of hydrogen gasoline focus, which interprets into an 8 to 10 mg dose if consumed whereas the water is “white.”
Ideally, you’d need to drink the complete liter all of sudden. If it is an excessive amount of, you may divide it into two doses, with one pill in half a liter of water taken within the morning and one other half-liter (with one pill) once more within the afternoon.
Whereas it might be tempting to easily put two tablets in half a liter of water, this won’t provide the preferrred dose. In essence, you are getting the next focus of hydrogen, however at a decrease dose. The issue with that is that the consequences aren’t linear, and easily elevating the focus however lowering the dose won’t present you’ll the complete results.
Methods to Drink Your Hydrogen for Greatest Outcomes
So, for finest outcomes, place two to 3 tablets in 1 liter (about 32 ounces) of water and drink all of it within the morning. This gives you a really sturdy pulse, which can produce higher outcomes than a decrease pulse twice a day.
Take into account that as soon as the tablets are totally dissolved and the water has turned white — which might take wherever from 30 seconds to a few minutes, relying on the temperature of the water — you will need to drink it as quick as potential. Room temperature water is finest, permitting the tablets to dissolve in about 90 seconds.
Between 45 and 90 seconds, the water can have a secure focus of hydrogen at or above 10 ppm. Between one and 6 minutes, it will drop from 10 ppm to 1.6 ppm. So, the quicker you drink it the higher. Nevertheless, even in the event you let it sit for a couple of minutes, you are still getting 1.6 ppm, which is way greater than what you will get from water ionizers that price hundreds of {dollars}.
As an added bonus, you are additionally getting extremely out there magnesium — about 80 mg of elemental magnesium per pill, which works straight to the place magnesium is required. The fundamental magnesium doesn’t dissipate, so that you’re getting that even in the event you overlook to drink it earlier than the hydrogen dissipates.
Blowup Results in a Stunning Discovery
As Tarnava was creating the tablets, he was additionally utilizing them on himself. As soon as he was in a position to make a pill that offered 3 ppm in half a liter of water, his shoulder unfroze and the arthritis in his hip eased.
“I used to be consuming 1 liter within the morning, 1 liter within the afternoon and 1 liter earlier than mattress. Then I began getting a little bit bit extra hardcore. I began [increasing] the stress and was getting shut to five ppm in taking this dose.
However I used to be needing to place the thermoses in vice grips to take away the caps as a result of they have been getting knocked off the threads. That was my first run-in with security management, as a result of one in every of my thermoses blew up in my fridge.”
The explanation for it’s because the molecular hydrogen converts to gasoline, which will increase the stress in a closed container. This finally led Tarnava to develop an open-container pill.
Most hydrogen tablets require utilizing a closed container, or else the gasoline will merely escape. Tarnava’s product, alternatively, could be dropped into an open glass, and the gasoline nonetheless stays put within the water and does not escape.
“I feel that is actually what units us aside,” he says. “That is the premise of most of our IP and what we have achieved. And it was an accident. We did not do it on function … Our preliminary objective was to get 3 to 4 ppm in half a liter in beneath 5 minutes in a sealed container …
However each time we might unseal these fast-reacting tablets, the water went white. This is able to check very excessive and return down in a short time. The half-life did not make any sense. We’re beating our heads in opposition to the wall. After just a few months, it simply dawned on me, ‘Why are we combating this? We’re getting greater ranges by doing this … I ponder how we might do in an open cup?’
It was greater. It was beneath two minutes at the moment … It actually did not make sense. Lastly, once we did it within the open cup and we replicated it time and again, it nonetheless did not make sense. I contacted Tyler LeBaron [a molecular hydrogen expert]. I instructed him what we have been engaged on. He stated, ‘I do not imagine you. Present me.’ I put him on-line …
Tyler did not falsify what we have been doing. He did a number of exams. He took them into testing in Japan and China, to completely different conferences and apparatuses. He requested me to do some exams and I did it. I have been by the identical factor with Randy Shark who runs H2 Sciences …
He was as or extra skeptical than Tyler, however he … [too] did not falsify what we’re doing. Now, as we’re getting extra knowledge — we’re doing gasoline chromatography, we’re doing all these various things — each report … [is] indicating between 8 to 11 ppm in half a liter with one pill … No one else comes shut.”
From Sickness to Well being with Molecular Hydrogen
As Tarnava continued utilizing the hydrogen water, his frozen shoulder and arthritic joints continued to enhance to the purpose the place he can now play soccer and work out. He additionally carried out higher sleeping habits, which in all probability performed a task as effectively, seeing how he was solely sleeping about 4 hours — half of the really useful quantity of sleep you want for optimum well being.
He is additionally doing my cyclical fasting protocol. “I have been doing that for months,” he says. “I quick 43 to 48 hours per week each week. Each fourth, I am pushing it to 72 [hours]. I dropped 40 kilos from February to August.”
This brings up an vital level: Whereas molecular hydrogen is a unbelievable complement — I take it every single day — it is not a magic bullet by itself. It must be built-in with different parts of a wholesome life-style. Tarnava was not doing that originally. Now that he is sleeping extra and doing time-restricted consuming, and a few longer fasting as effectively, his well being is beginning to considerably enhance.
“That is truly what excites me probably the most about hydrogen,”Tarnava says. “First, it is proven to have this protecting impact … The extra injury somebody has, usually, the extra outstanding hydrogen is working to convey them again to homeostatic operate.
However on high of that … hydrogen is proven not simply to cancel out and mitigate the stresses from different types of hormesis, as a result of it appears to be a type of hormesis itself … like train … however then, it has this rescuing impact to mainly convey restoration quicker.
On this actually managed rat research, the rats had greater stress, have been swimming longer. However as their stress spiked extra, their redox regulated quicker and their irritation was blunted. A extremely cool article I simply learn this weekend [showed] … it considerably improved train efficiency.
However what was fascinating is it considerably lowered insulin-like development issue 1 (IGF-1), whereas train raises IGF-1. [The rats] carried out higher, however they’d IGF-1 lowered.”
The Significance of Biking
As simply talked about, hydrogen works by a course of referred to as molecular hormesis, so there is a delayed affect. If you are going to undergo oxidative stress, equivalent to flying domestically throughout the nation, for instance, you will need to take it a number of hours and even days beforehand.
The explanation for it’s because it has to undergo the method of activating your antioxidant genes. Tarnava additionally recommends biking your use of hydrogen with the intention to preserve its effectiveness. He explains:
“As an example, for my surgical procedure, a month earlier than I cycled off [hydrogen]. Each three to 6 months, I will cease taking hydrogen and let all my joints seize and deprive my physique of the exogenous hydrogen. After which I modify my dosing protocol to maintain my physique guessing. This appears to kick issues into gear.
It appears that previously, after I had the identical dose of protocol for a yr, that issues began seizing again up once more. Once I get a wash-out interval and alter [the dosage] … I get well once more. I have been telling most individuals to do the identical.
Each time I modify it, generally I will do it twice a day. Generally, I will do it 3 times a day … I will have the next focus or a decrease dosage. Different occasions, I train 5 – 6 days per week and I used to be solely taking them on days I train, 5 minutes earlier than I train, which, anecdotally, is once we see the most important profit for train … particularly on coronary heart fee and modifying coronary heart fee.”
Molecular Hydrogen Is a Highly effective Well being Assist
In response to Tyler LeBaron, one of many preeminent consultants on molecular hydrogen, greater than 1,000 peer-reviewed scientific publications have collectively demonstrated that H2 has therapeutic potential in over 170 completely different human and animal illness fashions.
In reality, hydrogen is proven to learn nearly each organ of the human physique, and the rationale for it’s because hydrogen truly targets and mitigates the basis causes of irritation and oxidation.
As talked about at the start, hydrogen has the power to selectively goal probably the most poisonous radicals, and helps stop their creation within the first place, which is a really highly effective prevention mechanism.
For instance, scientific research have proven molecular hydrogen successfully prevents liver injury (fatty liver) attributable to a high-sugar eating regimen and metabolic syndrome.2,3 Animal analysis4 counsel hydrogen may very well induce GLUT4 translocation by an analogous mechanism as insulin.
To study extra about molecular hydrogen, try the Molecular Hydrogen Institute’s web site. There, you will discover analysis, video lectures and quite a lot of different assets, together with various completely different certifications for these thinking about working with and administering molecular hydrogen.