Liquid Assets

The smallest element on the periodic table might prove to be a powerful tool in fighting disease – and delivering glowing skin

- Megan O’Neill

Like everyone who came of age post-Cindy Crawford, I was raised to believe I had to chug eight glasses of water a day to stay healthy. Sure, water is a life force – up to 60 per cent of the body is composed of it – but downing litre after tasteless litre has never stirred me in quite the same way as tossing back a sugary Gatorade. Until now.

Hydrogen-rich water – in which protons and electrons are added to regular old Hâ‚‚O, giving it a surplus of hydrogen gas (Hâ‚‚O plus molecular hydrogen does not a new element make) – has been a thing in Japan since the ’60s, and the country is now in full hydrogen mania: major companies sell machines that gas up water for at-home guzzling, and health nuts pop hydrogen-infused anti-ageing supplements or soak in hydrogen-enriched bath salts to reap an array of skin-perfecting, anti inflammatory and antioxidant benefits.

Too good to be true? Consider this: in a small study documented in the Journal Of Photochemistry And Photobiology, subjects who bathed in hydrogen-enriched water daily for three months showed significant improvement in neck wrinkles. In the same study, samples of UV-damaged human fibroblasts (aka sunzapped skin cells) were also shown to increase collagen production twofold after being immersed in hydrogen water for three to five days.