The Ultimate Human Podcast, hosted by Gary Brecka, welcomed Paul Barattiero, the founder of Echo, to discuss the origin of Echo and the benefits of hydrogen water. As the foremost authority on water in the world, Dr. Paul was the perfect guest to explain the science behind hydrogenated water and water filtration systems.
Dr. Paul’s journey in the study of molecular hydrogen started when he and his wife had been married about 10 years. His wife had been suffering from several chronic illnesses that were becoming debilitating and weren’t being helped with traditional medication. It wasn’t until a friend offered them a new kind of filtered water that Paul’s wife started experiencing a relief from her symptoms. In fact, the improvement in her health was no less than miraculous.
As Paul noticed the significant changes in his wife’ health, he asked his friend what was in the water. His friend wasn’t totally sure but thought alkaline was the secret ingredient to his wife’s recovery. But based on Paul’s knowledge of how the body metabolized alkaline, he wasn’t convinced alkaline was the solution.
So, Paul decided to do his own research. He read study after study on different types of water and additives, when something caught his eye: dissolved hydrogen (DH). And he would soon find that DH was the solution he had been looking for.
What is dissolved hydrogen (DH)?
We all know that hydrogen is already in the structure of water; it’s the H in H2O. But water is a liquid, which means we don’t have access to hydrogen in its gaseous form. The bubbles we see in water are oxygen and are usually the result of turbulence or normal aeration. However, you won’t ever have naturally occurring hydrogen in its gaseous state in water.
In order to create dissolved hydrogen, you have to break up the water molecules. Echo’s process harvests the hydrogen and oxygen and sends hot oxygen out into the environment, and then dissolves the hydrogen and eventually mixes it in with the pure water.
With this process, the bubbles you see in your hydrogenated water is hydrogen, not oxygen. And because the H2 molecule is so small, it easily permeates into bodily tissue and offers health benefits.
Do our bodies need hydrogen?
While the process of adding hydrogen to our drinking water sounds very sophisticated, do we actually need hydrogen in our body? The simple answer: Yes!
Hydrogen is supposed to be in our bodies. We are supposed to create hydrogen in our intestinal tract when we digest food. Hydrogen is an antioxidant, a word we’ve all heard a million times, which essentially means that it reduces oxidation. And while oxidation is normal, oxidative stress is not. So, having hydrogen in the body can reduce oxidative stress, which can lead to reduced inflammation, better absorption of supplements, better absorption of foods, and better balance of stomach acids.
What physical benefits does hydrogen offer?
As mentioned above, hydrogen is an antioxidant. Antioxidants protect your cells against free radicals, which can harm your cells and contribute to heart disease, cancer, and other diseases. While “antioxidant” is a general term to describe hydrogen and its benefits, let’s talk about specific ways hydrogen can improve our everyday lives.
Immune System
Since 70% of our immune system comes from the health of our gut, we can’t have a healthy immune system without a healthy gut. Hydrogen has been linked to bolstered immune systems because it has also been proven to improve our gut biome. Some of the most critical bacteria in our gut are anaerobic, which means they don’t need oxygen, and they want a negative electrical potential. Since hydrogen is electron rich, it imparts a negative electrical potential when added to water. Simply put, hydrogen can create the right environment for gut bacteria to thrive, which bolsters the immune system
By drinking hydrogenated water, we are feeding the gut bacteria, changing the flora of our gut, and making a more hospitable biome for the bacteria that actually offer health benefits – reducing inflammation and interrupting free radical oxidation.
In a study from 2022, researchers found that hydrogen therapy actually altered gut microbiota profiles of their test subjects.
Athletic Performance
On the podcast, Gary and Paul discuss how hydrogen water increased athletic ability in elite athletes. One of the studies they cite followed professional soccer players and aimed to assess the effect of pre-exercise hydrogen-rich water (HRW) consumption on repeated sprint performance, lactate, and perceptual responses.
The study found that their test subjects had significantly faster sprint times after HRW consumption compared with the placebo. Pre-exercise HRW supplementation was also associated with an increased ability to reduce fatigue, especially during the later stages of repeated sprint exercise.
Essentially, when these professional soccer players drank hydrogen water before their workouts, they were able to sprint faster and were not as fatigued as the placebo group. If elite athletes can experience increased physical ability and stamina, non-athletes can also expect to experience increased energy in their everyday lives by consuming hydrogen water.
Mental Clarity
Dr. Paul related an experience from a doctor in Tampa, FL, who did brain mapping on a 62-year-old woman. Before the brain mapping, he gave her 16 ounces of Echo water, and within three minutes, he saw a 32% change in the plasticity of her brain and 58% normalization of alpha and beta waves.
This experiment shows that hydrogen water has the potential to make your brain function at normal levels instead of being overworked, which is typical for people with ADHD and other neurological disorders. Essentially, it makes you mind feel clearer.
But molecular hydrogen goes beyond just clearer thinking. In a study on Parkinson’s disease, they found that patients who drank hydrogen water experienced a significant improvement in total Unified Parkinsons’ Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) scores. The UPDRS is the most widely used rating scale for Parkinson’s disease and scores items within three categories: 1) Mentation, behavior, and mood; 2) Activities of daily living; and 3) Motor examination.
As one of the smallest elements, hydrogen is proving that it can have a huge effect on our health and well-being. Since our bodies are made up of 60%-80% water, we should be putting the best water available in our bodies. And we’re finding that the best water for our brain, gut, immune system, and energy level is purified water with dissolved hydrogen.
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