There are only a handful of people who have won the Nobel Prize twice, including Marie Curie, Linus Carl Pauling, John Bardeen, Frederick Sanger, and Carl Barry Sharpless (as of 2020).
Among them, Linus Carl Pauling focused on the use of ultra-large doses of vitamins to treat and prevent diseases, known as "super vitamin therapy". Vitamin C is an antioxidant that eliminates free radicals, which allows it to eliminate a series of substances that cause cancer, such as nitrosamines.
However, many vitamins cannot enter mitochondria by simple diffusion. In order to deliver antioxidants to specific locations in mitochondria, special structures are required, such as triphenylphosphine ions or mitochondrial signal peptides of mitochondrial targeting peptides. Many vitamins lack such special structures, resulting in vitamins that can enter the cytoplasm but cannot enter the mitochondria efficiently.
[Hydroxy radicals in mitochondria]
During the respiration process of cells, various types of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are produced in mitochondria. Not all ROS are toxic. The only ROS that causes cytotoxicity is hydroxyl radicals. Hydroxyl radicals attack cells and cause aging and disease.
Mitochondria are where various ROS and hydroxyl radicals are produced during respiration. In order to prevent and alleviate diseases, it is necessary not only to effectively remove hydroxyl radicals in the cytoplasm, but also to remove them inside the organelles, including mitochondria and the nucleus. Therefore, only by establishing a technology to completely remove hydroxyl radicals in the mitochondrial matrix can the problem be fundamentally solved.
[Antioxidants and Mitochondria]
In order to deliver antioxidants to specific parts of mitochondria, special structures are required, such as mitochondrial signal peptides of triphenylphosphonium cations or mitochondrial targeting peptides. However, vitamins do not have this special structure, so although vitamins can enter the cytoplasm, they cannot enter the mitochondria. Since the hydroxyl radicals produced in mitochondria cannot be removed by vitamins, the effect of vitamins against mitochondrial oxidative stress damage is not ideal.
In addition, if cells are subjected to strong oxidative stress, vitamin C will be over-consumed, and vitamin C will become a pro-oxidant, promoting the production of hydroxyl radicals. As mentioned above, clinical trials using vitamin C to treat various pathological conditions including cancer have failed to prove medicinal effects.
【Super Hydrogen Therapy】
Japanese scholar Professor Yoshiyasu Takefuji (Professor at Musashino University, Japan, and Professor Emeritus of Keio University) published an article in Commentary, proposing the concept of "super hydrogen therapy", which is expected to solve this problem.
Professor Takefuji pointed out that hydrogen can overcome the weaknesses of conventional antioxidants such as vitamins. It can easily penetrate the cell membrane, enter the mitochondrial matrix, react with the hydroxyl free radicals produced in the mitochondria, and convert the hydroxyl free radicals into water molecules through the hydrogen atom abstraction reaction of the hydroxyl free radicals.
The bond of hydrogen molecules is a relatively strong covalent bond. Hydrogen molecules do not react with substances that constitute cells other than hydroxyl free radicals to cause damage to cells. Since the reaction product of hydrogen and hydroxyl free radicals is water, excess hydrogen will not cause side effects like other antioxidants and drugs.
The core of super hydrogen therapy is to actively take a large amount of molecular hydrogen to prevent and improve diseases. The number of human cells is about 37 trillion, and each cell contains 300 to 400 mitochondria, which are the source of hydroxyl free radicals. In order to eliminate the hydroxyl free radicals produced in all mitochondria, a large amount of molecular hydrogen needs to be inhaled and transported to every corner.
Schematic diagram of super hydrogen therapy: Although vitamin C cannot penetrate into the mitochondria, inhaling a large amount of hydrogen can eliminate the hydroxyl free radicals produced inside the mitochondria, inhibit mitochondrial dysfunction, and prevent and improve diseases.
[Scientific hydrogen inhalation]
Hydrogen can be produced using a hydrogen generator and inhaled through a mask, nasal cannula, etc. Compared with other methods, hydrogen inhalation works quickly and can be used as a potential treatment for oxidative stress. So far, no side effects have been found in this therapy; in addition, after inhaling hydrogen, the biochemical characteristics of the blood, namely pH, blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation, etc., are not affected. Hydrogen inhalation is considered a safe and effective treatment method.
As shown in the figure above, 30 minutes after inhaling hydrogen, the concentrations of arterial blood (red) and venous blood (blue) reach a peak and then decay rapidly. Therefore, continuous inhalation of hydrogen is an effective way to maintain its concentration.
Regarding the flow rate of hydrogen inhalation, Professor Xu Kecheng, a famous Chinese gastroenterologist and tumor treatment expert, pointed out that:
1. The concentration of hydrogen inhalation must be guaranteed, and enough hydrogen must enter the body; 2. The flow rate of the hydrogen generator is very important. It is difficult to achieve the effect with 500ml, 900ml, and 1000ml. The best is 3000ml/min. Academician Xu Kecheng pointed out that his wife had a stroke and was awake after 8 hours through hydrogen inhalation (two 3000ml hydrogen generators). She could eat after 16 hours without any sequelae;
3. The instantaneous effect of treatment is very important. The gas concentration produced by the hydrogen generator must reach 66%, and it is best to be higher, such as 75%;
4. The cumulative effect of treatment is also very important. In practice, it takes 4-6 hours a day, and some critically ill patients inhale hydrogen for more than 10 hours a day to achieve the ideal effect.
