Pregnancy
Pregnancy and newborns — mostly foundational or measurement studies, with no usage recommendations. This is one of the most thinly evidenced fields: only around 9 papers touch on the topic, including a few pilot and observational studies in humans as well as predominantly preclinical investigations in animal and cell models. Randomized controlled trials are lacking.
The available human works are mostly of a foundational or measurement nature — for example on biomarkers or oxidative stress — not tests of an H₂ application during pregnancy.
From this evidence base, no recommendation for the use of molecular hydrogen in pregnancy or breastfeeding can be derived. Safety and benefit have not been studied here; decisions belong exclusively in medical hands.
Human studies on molecular hydrogen for Pregnancy. This page collects the 9 studies catalogued in this area — 0 randomized trials, 3 pilot/observational studies and 0 reviews. Listed newest first.
1985 · Mobassaleh et al. — Development of Carbohydrate Absorption in the Fetus and Neonate
This 1985 review describes how carbohydrate digestion enzymes and absorption mechanisms mature during fetal development and the neonatal period — and how breath hydrogen testing can non-invasively assess carbohydrate absorption status in young infants.
1984 · Sakiyama — The Cervical Blood Flow Using Hydrogen Gas Clearance Method
This 1984 Japanese study measured cervical blood flow across the menstrual cycle and various stages of pregnancy using inhaled hydrogen gas clearance — a diagnostic technique, not a therapy.
2024 · McCurry — Gut bacteria convert glucocorticoids into progestins in the presence of hydrogen gas.
Two common gut bacteria can chemically transform stress hormones (glucocorticoids) into sex hormones and neurosteroids (progestins) — and this conversion is significantly boosted by hydrogen gas produced by other gut bacteria.
2023 · Guo — Hydrogen suppresses oxidative stress by inhibiting the p38 MAPK signaling pathway in preeclampsia
In a rat model of preeclampsia, hydrogen-rich saline significantly reduced inflammation markers, oxidative stress, and blood pressure-related damage — and the protective effect appears to work via inhibiting the p38 MAPK signaling pathway.
2016 · Yang — Effects of hydrogen-rich medium on lipopolysaccharide-induced intestinal epithelial barrier dysfunction of human colon carcinoma cells
In a cell culture model of the intestinal epithelial barrier, hydrogen-rich medium protected Caco2 cells from lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced barrier disruption by improving cell viability, reducing cell injury, and partially restoring the expression and structure of tight-junction proteins claudin-1 and occludin.
2015 · Hattori et al. — Maternal molecular hydrogen treatment attenuates lipopolysaccharide-induced rat fetal lung injury.
Drinking hydrogen-rich water (HRW) before lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection significantly reduced inflammation, oxidative damage, and cell death in fetal rat lungs — suggesting that maternal H₂ intake could protect premature infants from inflammation-driven lung disease.
2015 · Guan et al. — Effects of vitamin C, vitamin E, and molecular hydrogen on the placental function in trophoblast cells.
In cultured trophoblast cell lines, high doses of vitamins C and E reduced cell viability and increased the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α — whereas molecular hydrogen (H₂) at equivalent concentrations did neither, suggesting a more favourable safety profile for H₂ as an antioxidant in placental biology.
2014 · Mano et al. — Maternal molecular hydrogen administration ameliorates rat fetal hippocampal damage caused by in utero ischemia-reperfusion.
In this rat study, pregnant mothers that drank hydrogen-saturated water passed measurable H₂ to the placenta, which protected fetal hippocampal neurons from ischemia-reperfusion injury — and improved the learning and memory of the offspring at 8 weeks of age.