Day: September 24, 2022

• In 2017 to 2018, only 6.8% of U.S. adults had optimal cardiometabolic health, which means more than 93% of U.S. adults are metabolically unfit

• In my interview on the “Good Morning CHD” daily news show, I discuss simple ways to radically improve your health if you fall into that metabolically unfit category

• The basics to restoring metabolic health are to use time-restricted eating, avoid processed foods and linoleic acid, and get daily sun exposure

• Time-restricted eating involves limiting your eating window to a set number of hours during the day; I recommend getting down to a six- to eight-hour eating window with stopping all eating at least three hours before bed

• I also share three essential compounds that should be in your emergency medicine kit — methylene blue, melatonin and nebulized hydrogen peroxide

A landmark study came out in July 2022, showing that as of 2018, only 6.8% of U.S. adults had optimal cardiometabolic health.1 What this means is that more than 93% of U.S. adults are metabolically unfit, and the actual percentage is probably over 95%, as we don’t have the 2022 data yet — but do know that cardiometabolic health in the U.S. is “poor and worsening.”2

This health crisis in the U.S. formed the foundation of my recent discussion with Polly Tommey, director of programming for Children’s Health Defense (CHD) TV, as part of their “Good Morning CHD” daily news show.3 Before I got into how to radically improve your health if you fall into that metabolically unfit category, I shared two essential compounds that I believe everyone should keep in their medicine cabinet.

Methylene blue is the parent molecule for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, off-patent drugs commonly used to treat not only malaria but also COVID-19. Methylene blue is actually the oldest drug in the world. It was discovered in 1876 and used as a textile dye for blue jeans, but it has many important medicinal benefits.

It is a highly effective agent against urinary tract infections (UTIs), as it is excreted by your kidneys into your bladder where it reaches very high concentrations and becomes a potent oxidant stress that kills virtually any pathogen in the bladder — without disrupting the microbiome the way antibiotics do.

Methylene blue is also the only known antidote for cyanide poisoning, but the reason why you absolutely should have it in your medicine cabinet has to do with cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks and strokes.

When you have a heart attack or most strokes, it is due to a blood clot that results in loss of blood flow to the heart or brain. If the amount of tissue is significant it will result in death. Reestablishment of blood flow is essential to salvage these tissues. However, reestablishing blood flow, or reperfusion, itself paradoxically causes further damage, threatening function and viability of the heart or brain.

Reperfusion injury is also called ischemia-reperfusion injury or reoxygenation injury. The absence of oxygen and nutrients from blood during the ischemic period creates a condition in which the reestablishment of circulation results in inflammation and oxidative damage through causing oxidative stress rather than restoring normal function.

If you take methylene blue, you can significantly decrease the tissue damage that occurs. However, dosage is important, as you only need a small amount and you don’t want to overdose on it. I recommend using a microspoon for measuring the proper amount, and I discussed dosing suggestions in my interview with Francisco Gonzalez-Lima, Ph.D., who is an expert on methylene blue.

Low doses, 0.5 milligram (mg) to 1 mg per kilo of bodyweight, are recommended for nonacute, longer-term treatments, including the prevention and treatment of dementia, post-stroke and other brain injuries, cognitive enhancement, and the general optimization of health if you’re already healthy.

The second compound that I recommend keeping on hand is melatonin — in a 10 mg sublingual dose. It’s a powerful antioxidant and will limit the reperfusion injury if taken right away after a heart attack or stroke. It’s important that the methylene blue is also administered quickly, ideally within minutes, of the heart attack or stroke.

The longer you wait after the injury the less likely it will provide benefit, which is why it’s essential to keep these items on hand, in your emergency medicine kit.4

There’s industrial grade methylene blue, which you don’t want to get because the manufacturing process typically results in heavy metal contamination. There’s also pharmaceutical grade, but it’s difficult to find or expensive in a powder form. Then there is chemical, or sometimes referred to as lab-grade which, depending on the company, can have very low heavy metals.

You can purchase methylene blue that’s already dissolved in water, but that’s not as good as buying the powder itself and putting it into water. Remember, you’ll need a microspoon for precise measurements.

Time-restricted eating (TRE) involves limiting your eating window to a set number of hours during the day. I recommend getting down to at least a six- to eight-hour eating window — and ensuring that you stop eating at least three hours before bed.

Most people reading this can benefit from embracing TRE, with the exceptions being if you’re underweight or pregnant. When you’re metabolically unfit, your body primarily relies on glucose, or sugar, as fuel, instead of using fat as a primary fuel.

Even though the fat is there in abundance, your body doesn’t have the metabolic capacity to access it. For most people, surplus fuel stored in your body is stored in the form of fat. However, no one has more than about two days’ worth of glucose in the form of glycogen, stored in their tissues in their liver and muscles. This is why, when you first start fasting, and you’re unable to access your fat stores, you’ll quickly exhaust your glycogen stores and can experience low blood sugar.

Your body has the ability to make glucose in your liver (gluconeogenesis), but that process takes a while to ramp up and, as a result, most people get relatively hypoglycemic when they first start fasting. You may experience dizziness and fatigue as a result, which are signs that you’re not metabolically flexible. If you were, your body would have more than enough capacity to produce all the fuel you need to keep your brain happy and healthy.5

In the interview, I also pointed out that if you’re obese, you can typically safely go on three-, five- or even seven-day water fasts. Many experts are predicting upcoming food shortages and economic collapse come fall, and I wanted to reassure people that most who fall in this category could probably not eat for months, some people for up to a year, if they’re grossly overweight, and they would be significantly healthier for it.6

Again, fasting isn’t recommended for people who are underweight, pregnant or breastfeeding. You also need to use caution if you’re taking certain medications, such as those for blood pressure or blood sugar.7 Interestingly, when you’re metabolically inflexible and unable to use fat for fuel, your body generates a molecule called acetyl-CoA when it’s breaking down fats — and that happens to be one of the cofactors for your body making melatonin.

So when you’re metabolically inflexible, your body produces far less melatonin — a potent anticancer agent — in the mitochondria where you need it, because that’s where almost all the damage that causes cancer is caused — due to oxidative stress from the process of generating energy within the mitochondria.8

TRE is so powerful that rat studies suggest changing the eating window leads to beneficial effects on health,9 regardless of what’s eaten during that time. That being said, your results are going to be best if you’re eating healthy food. With respect to food, the most important change to make is cutting out industrially processed seed oils, which are misleadingly labeled as vegetable oils.

Examples of seed oils high in omega-6 PUFAs include soybean, cottonseed, sunflower, rapeseed (canola), corn and safflower.10 Omega-6 is considered to be proinflammatory because of the most common variety, linoleic acid (LA), which will radically increase oxidative stress and cause mitochondrial dysfunction.11

In order to avoid LA, you’ll need to avoid eating processed foods and focus on real food instead. If you eat real food and use TRE, your body will become healthier because it’s designed to do this if you provide it with what it needs. If you don’t follow these ancestral guidelines to good health, it predisposes you to disease.

Now, if you eat real food, use TRE and get about one hour of daily sun exposure, that’s going to reduce your risk of 90% to 95% of chronic diseases.12 If you want to get more advanced, you can add in sauna usage, which helps you eliminate toxins and activates beneficial heat shock proteins that refold your proteins to prevent diseases like dementia.

The wavelengths from a near infrared sauna, which heats your body the most effectively, actually penetrate your skin about 3 to 4 inches and get into your mitochondria, causing your mitochondria to make melatonin. About 95% of the melatonin in your body is made in the mitochondria, and near infrared saunas are the only type that have this added benefit of also increasing melatonin.13

As you focus on eating real food and restricting your eating window, it is important to avoid making the mistake of going no-carb or low-carb, as your body needs carbohydrates. While you may initially improve if you cut out carbs, over time it will raise your cortisol levels and can actually lead to insulin resistance and hormonal imbalance.

Foods like watermelon, apples and blueberries can help you add nutrient-rich carbohydrates to your diet. Many people also wonder about coffee, which can be consumed outside of your eating window because it has almost no calories. The coffee should be organic, black and mycotoxin-free.

As for alcohol, it will break your fast if you consume it outside of your eating window. Small amounts may be OK to consume inside of your eating window, but it may impair your sleep if you consume it too close to bedtime, and be aware that wine is a source of the toxic chemical glyphosate. Ideally, I believe alcohol is better off avoided.

Finally, one additional compound that should be added to your emergency medical kit is hydrogen peroxide and a nebulizer. Like methylene blue and melatonin, nebulized hydrogen peroxide is something you’ll want to have on hand for immediate use when you need it. I use nebulized hydrogen peroxide most mornings, but if you start feeling sick, you can use it every few hours, or more, to ward off illness.

If you get these basics down — time-restricted eating, avoiding processed foods and LA, and getting daily sun exposure — you can significantly reduce your risk of becoming chronically ill, and even join the 6.8% of Americans who have been able to maintain good cardiometabolic health.

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Disclaimer: The entire contents of this website are based upon the opinions of Dr. Mercola, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based upon the opinions of the respective author, who retains copyright as marked.

The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Mercola and his community. Dr. Mercola encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional. The subscription fee being requested is for access to the articles and information posted on this site, and is not being paid for any individual medical advice.

If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your health care professional before using products based on this content.

Download Interview Transcript | Download my FREE Podcast

• Molecular hydrogen (H2) is a gas with very unique and selective antioxidant effects. It works primarily by improving the redox status of the cell when needed

• Hydrogen is the smallest molecule in the universe, which is why its bioavailability is so great. It’s also neutral, so it can easily penetrate any membrane space in your body

• Drinking hydrogen water can double your cellular concentration of hydrogen gas. For about five minutes, your blood level peaks, and this is when beneficial changes in cell signaling and gene expression occur

• Molecular hydrogen is best taken cyclically or pulsed. If you take it continuously — say you’re drinking hydrogen water throughout the whole day — the effect seems to dissipate and can actually vanish altogether

• For best results, place two tablets in 1 liter of water and drink it all in the morning. This will give you a very strong pulse, which will produce better results than a lower pulse twice a day. Once the tablets are fully dissolved, you’ll want to drink it as fast as possible

Alex Tarnava, whom you may not have heard of before, is the inventor of the open-container molecular hydrogen tablets — my favorite supplement — thus making it widely available in a convenient form.

Molecular hydrogen (H2) — two hydrogen atoms combined together — is a gas with very unique and selective antioxidant effects that specifically target the most harmful free radicals. It works primarily by improving and optimizing the redox status of the cell when needed.

As a result, you see improvements in superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione levels, for example. Not only does hydrogen selectively reduce the most toxic radicals, but it can help prevent an excess (which becomes toxic) of the free radicals from being produced in the first place. This is a very powerful prevention mechanism.

H2 also activates the Nrf2 pathway when needed. Nrf2 is a transcription factor that, when activated, goes into the cell’s nucleus and binds to the antioxidant response element in the DNA.

It then induces the transcription of further cytoprotective enzymes such as glutathione, superoxide dismutase catalase, glutathione peroxidase, phase II enzymes, heme-1 oxygenase and many others.

A landmark paper1 on molecular hydrogen came out in Nature Medicine in 2007, showing 2% hydrogen gas was effective at preventing brain damage from ischemia reperfusion and, as an antioxidant, has powerful therapeutic applications. Hydrogen is the smallest molecule in the universe, and is neutral and nonpolar, which is why its bioavailability is so great.

As is so often the case, Tarnava’s interest in molecular hydrogen and his subsequent invention was born out of a personal health challenge that required him to dig deeper for a solution. He explains:

“I had another business that allowed me a lot of freedom for athletics and exercise. I was training six to eight hours a day. I was training in various martial arts and CrossFit. Then I got really sick. It materialized in sudden-onset narcolepsy. I had central nervous system shut down.

My heavy lifts weren’t altered but I couldn’t jump on a plate, whereas a couple of weeks before I had the 54-inch plyometric jump. I was sleeping 16 to 15 hours a day. I’d fall asleep if I sat down for about a minute. My bloodwork was bizarre … My C-reactive protein was 34 [mg/dL].”

Your C-reactive protein should ideally be below 1 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL), so Tarnava obviously had massive inflammation going on. He was also iron-deficient and anemic, despite eating a lot of red meat and leafy greens.

“It lasted for weeks. They couldn’t figure it out … When the dust settled, my shoulder was frozen. All the inflammation, the narcolepsy and the excess sleeping just went away, but I had a frozen left shoulder. I basically had arthritis in eight spots overnight. At that time, hydrogen was already on my radar, so I bought a machine for $5,000.”

The problem was, the hydrogen water machine was only producing a very small amount of hydrogen gas. When he tested the water for its hydrogen content, Tarnava found it had a concentration of 0.03 parts per million (ppm), which is virtually nothing. In the end, this is what spurred Tarnava to develop molecular hydrogen tablets that can deliver a consistent concentrated dose when dissolved in water.

“I used a bit of a Ray Kurzweilian strategy when I was developing the tablets,” he says. “I found experts. I found engineers. I found pharmaceutical formulation firms. I contracted a physicist, a chemist and biochemist …

Eventually [I succeeded in making the tablets]. I failed a couple thousand times … I was reading a lot of the studies. They’re using magnesium in different ways. I tried magnesium sticks. It wasn’t working …

I started looking to make powders and tablets … At first, the [metallic] magnesium was really hard to get. I had to go through the Department of Defense and the state department to be compliant with eight different government agencies to use the magnesium.

Usually when you’re buying a magnesium, it’s a salt … [Metallic magnesium] is reactive — it’s nonionic, elemental magnesium … It’s very hazardous to handle in production. We have very, very controlled production.

But it’s a very safe tablet. So, our hydrogen tablet is not HAZMAT (hazardous material). It’s not explosive. It’s not flammable. But it will split the hydrogen off your water …

We’re using a very special pharmaceutical grade magnesium that’s ground in very specific ways for us to get the nano bubbles … When I first started tinkering around, I had some of it tested. I was getting magnesium in from like Russia and China that was being mislabeled.

I later found they were illegal for export from both places. It’s heavily controlled in the U.S. Just to get it out to Canada, it was an eight-month process with the state department doing background checks, facility checks and in-person interviews to make sure I had a legitimate purpose for this stuff.”

Tarnava’s tablets are also tested and compliant for heavy metals. Tarnava tells the tale of a competitor who did not bother going through the intricate certification processes Tarnava has followed and purchased magnesium from a fireworks reseller, which resulted in tablets that were high in lead.

“We’re ultra-compliant in our heavy metal levels. You need 16 tablets a day to hit the threshold for California Proposition 65, which is about 10 times stricter than the pharmaceutical regulations on it, which is even several times stricter than some regulations … For supplement regulations, I think you could take something like a couple of hundred tablets a day …

We went to great lengths to ensure purity and to ensure the framework was in place before we started [production], which is also why we’re pursuing so much research with public teams under no publication agreement.

We have five publications already in three years … We have seven more that are underway and six in the planning stage that are finishing up their ethics approvals and protocols. And we have four prominent universities conducting rodent trials using our tablets.

In total, we’re now working with nine or 10 public universities around the world to further the research and assist in any way we can, because we want to know more about how it works, what dose should be used and when it should be taken. The data is starting to come out. Things are definitely emerging. Higher dose, higher concentration and intermittent pulse seems to be the best for humans.”

Before molecular hydrogen tablets, one of the most commonly used ways to generate molecular hydrogen water was through the use of water ionizers that purport to make hydrogen.

However, they won’t work unless you have total dissolved solids (TDS) such as minerals in the water. You cannot use reverse osmosis or distilled water. They will also stop working once the plates used to split the water get calcified from the TDS. Tarnava explains:

“What ends up happening is they’ll still make hydrogen, but it doesn’t dissolve because the bubbles are too big. It’ll still make the same amount of hydrogen, but it’s just in and out. It doesn’t dissolve in the water.

In a lab, when they’re using pure gas to dissolve through a beaker, it might take half an hour of bubbling. Liters and liters of hydrogen to get to 1.6 ppm … But the smaller in bubbles you go, the easier it is to dissolve.

What I figured out is when you even go into the low nano range, you can quasi-dissolve this cloud of gas that doesn’t fully dissolve without accompanying pressure, but it also doesn’t escape. So, you can get, in a half a liter, 8 to 10 ppm [of molecular hydrogen], instead of the 0.1 ppm that a lot of these ionizers give you.

This is critical because a lot of people look at the rodent research and fail to properly [calculate] … just how much more hydrogen mice are consuming per body weight than humans.

When you take a 25-gram mouse and convert it to an 80-kilogram person (that’s 176 pounds for American viewers; that’s the average weight of the American), that person would need to drink the equivalent of 12.8 liters of water a day to get the same amount [of hydrogen] that mouse drinks.

Consequently, it’s critical because you need to raise your cellular concentrations of hydrogen. If you’re only drinking half a liter or a liter a day, then you need to [raise] the concentration to get that proper dosage.”

Molecular hydrogen is best taken cyclically or pulsed. If you take it continuously — say you’re drinking hydrogen water all day long — the effect seems to dissipate and can actually vanish altogether.

As noted by Tarnava, your body naturally produces about 10 liters (L) of hydrogen gas each day through bacteria that break down carbohydrates in your digestive system.

It may seem odd that taking a relatively small amount of supplemental hydrogen gas can make a difference, but when you look at the cellular response between ingestion and inhalation, drinking hydrogen water can double your cellular concentration of hydrogen gas. For about five minutes, your blood level peaks, and this is when beneficial changes in cell signaling and gene expression occur.

“Most of what hydrogen does is indirect response from altered cell signaling and changes in gene expression,” Tarnava explains. “We simply need that pulsed dose to alter all these things, [because the data shows] when they’ve given continuous gas administration, and constantly raised the cellular concentration, it’s had no benefit, even at a much higher dose, whereas when pulsed, the effect is good.”

In the interview, Tarnava discusses hydrogen gas dosing using both ppm and mg. To clarify, ppm and mg/L are identical and both refer to the concentration of hydrogen in the water. The mg refers to the actual dosage. As noted by Tarnava, getting the correct acute dosage is important for optimal benefits.

When you dissolve two molecular hydrogen tablets in 1 liter of water, you get 8 to 10 ppm of hydrogen gas concentration, which translates into an 8 to 10 mg dose if consumed while the water is “white.”

Ideally, you’d want to drink the full liter all at once. If it’s too much, you can divide it into two doses, with one tablet in half a liter of water taken in the morning and another half-liter (with one tablet) again in the afternoon.

While it may be tempting to simply put two tablets in half a liter of water, this will not give you the ideal dose. In essence, you’re getting a higher concentration of hydrogen, but at a lower dose. The problem with this is that the effects are not linear, and simply raising the concentration but reducing the dose will not provide you will the full effects.

So, for best results, place two to three tablets in 1 liter (about 32 ounces) of water and drink it all in the morning. This will give you a very strong pulse, which will produce better results than a lower pulse twice a day.

Keep in mind that once the tablets are fully dissolved and the water has turned white — which can take anywhere from 30 seconds to a couple of minutes, depending on the temperature of the water — you’ll want to drink it as fast as possible. Room temperature water is best, allowing the tablets to dissolve in about 90 seconds.

Between 45 and 90 seconds, the water will have a stable concentration of hydrogen at or above 10 ppm. Between one and six minutes, it’ll drop from 10 ppm to 1.6 ppm. So, the faster you drink it the better. However, even if you let it sit for a few minutes, you’re still getting 1.6 ppm, which is far higher than what you’ll get from water ionizers that cost thousands of dollars.

As an added bonus, you’re also getting highly available magnesium — about 80 mg of elemental magnesium per tablet, which goes straight to where magnesium is needed. The elemental magnesium does not dissipate, so you’re getting that even if you forget to drink it before the hydrogen dissipates.

As Tarnava was creating the tablets, he was also using them on himself. Once he was able to make a tablet that provided 3 ppm in half a liter of water, his shoulder unfroze and the arthritis in his hip eased.

“I was drinking 1 liter in the morning, 1 liter in the afternoon and 1 liter before bed. Then I started getting a little bit more hardcore. I started [increasing] the pressure and was getting close to 5 ppm in taking this dose.

But I was needing to put the thermoses in vice grips to remove the caps because they were getting knocked off the threads. That was my first run-in with safety control, because one of my thermoses blew up in my fridge.”

The reason for this is because the molecular hydrogen converts to gas, which increases the pressure in a closed container. This eventually led Tarnava to develop an open-container tablet.

Most hydrogen tablets require using a closed container, or else the gas will simply escape. Tarnava’s product, on the other hand, can be dropped into an open glass, and the gas still stays put in the water and doesn’t escape.

“I think that’s really what sets us apart,” he says. “That’s the basis of most of our IP and what we’ve done. And it was an accident. We didn’t do it on purpose … Our initial goal was to get 3 to 4 ppm in half a liter in under five minutes in a sealed container …

But every time we’d unseal these fast-reacting tablets, the water went white. This would test very high and return down very quickly. The half-life didn’t make any sense. We’re beating our heads against the wall. After a few months, it just dawned on me, ‘Why are we fighting this? We’re getting higher levels by doing this … I wonder how we’d do in an open cup?’

It was higher. It was under two minutes at that time … It really didn’t make sense. Finally, when we did it in the open cup and we replicated it over and over again, it still didn’t make sense. I contacted Tyler LeBaron [a molecular hydrogen expert]. I told him what we were working on. He said, ‘I don’t believe you. Show me.’ I put him online …

Tyler failed to falsify what we were doing. He did multiple tests. He took them into testing in Japan and China, to different conferences and apparatuses. He asked me to do some tests and I did it. I’ve been through the same thing with Randy Shark who runs H2 Sciences …

He was as or more skeptical than Tyler, but he … [too] failed to falsify what we’re doing. Now, as we’re getting more data — we’re doing gas chromatography, we’re doing all these different things — every report … [is] indicating between 8 to 11 ppm in half a liter with one tablet … Nobody else comes close.”

As Tarnava continued using the hydrogen water, his frozen shoulder and arthritic joints continued to improve to the point where he can now play soccer and work out. He also implemented better sleeping habits, which probably played a role as well, seeing how he was only sleeping about four hours — half of the recommended amount of sleep you need for optimal health.

He’s also doing my cyclical fasting protocol. “I’ve been doing that for months,” he says. “I fast 43 to 48 hours a week every week. Every fourth, I’m pushing it to 72 [hours]. I dropped 40 pounds from February to August.”

This brings up an important point: While molecular hydrogen is a fantastic supplement — I take it every day — it’s not a magic bullet by itself. It needs to be integrated with other elements of a healthy lifestyle. Tarnava was not doing that initially. Now that he’s sleeping more and doing time-restricted eating, and some longer fasting as well, his health is starting to significantly improve.

“That’s actually what excites me the most about hydrogen,”Tarnava says. “First, it’s shown to have this protective effect … The more damage someone has, typically, the more prominent hydrogen is working to bring them back to homeostatic function.

But on top of that … hydrogen is shown not just to cancel out and mitigate the stresses from other forms of hormesis, because it seems to be a form of hormesis itself … like exercise … but then, it has this rescuing effect to basically bring recovery faster.

In this really controlled rat study, the rats had higher stress, were swimming longer. But as their stress spiked more, their redox regulated faster and their inflammation was blunted. A really cool article I just read this weekend [showed] … it significantly improved exercise performance.

But what was interesting is it significantly lowered insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), whereas exercise raises IGF-1. [The rats] performed better, but they had IGF-1 lowered.”

As just mentioned, hydrogen works by a process called molecular hormesis, so there’s a delayed impact. If you’re going to go through oxidative stress, such as flying domestically across the country, for example, you’ll want to take it several hours or even days beforehand.

The reason for this is because it has to go through the process of activating your antioxidant genes. Tarnava also recommends cycling your use of hydrogen in order to keep its effectiveness. He explains:

“For instance, for my surgery, a month before I cycled off [hydrogen]. Every three to six months, I’ll stop taking hydrogen and let all my joints seize and deprive my body of the exogenous hydrogen. And then I change my dosing protocol to keep my body guessing. This seems to kick things into gear.

It seems that in the past, when I had the same dose of protocol for a year, that things started seizing back up again. When I get a wash-out period and change [the dosage] … I recover again. I’ve been telling most people to do the same.

Every time I change it, sometimes I’ll do it twice a day. Sometimes, I’ll do it three times a day … I’ll have a higher concentration or a lower dosage. Other times, I exercise five or six days a week and I was only taking them on days I exercise, five minutes before I exercise, which, anecdotally, is when we see the biggest benefit for exercise … especially on heart rate and modifying heart rate.”

According to Tyler LeBaron, one of the preeminent experts on molecular hydrogen, more than 1,000 peer-reviewed scientific publications have collectively demonstrated that H2 has therapeutic potential in over 170 different human and animal disease models.

In fact, hydrogen is shown to benefit virtually every organ of the human body, and the reason for this is because hydrogen actually targets and mitigates the root causes of inflammation and oxidation.

As mentioned at the beginning, hydrogen has the ability to selectively target the most toxic radicals, and helps prevent their creation in the first place, which is a very powerful prevention mechanism.

For example, clinical studies have shown molecular hydrogen effectively prevents liver damage (fatty liver) caused by a high-sugar diet and metabolic syndrome.2 3 Animal research4 suggest hydrogen may actually induce GLUT4 translocation by a similar mechanism as insulin.

To learn more about molecular hydrogen, check out the Molecular Hydrogen Institute’s website. There, you’ll find research, video lectures and a variety of other resources, including a number of different certifications for those interested in working with and administering molecular hydrogen.

Access this content 48 hours faster by subscribing to the FREE Mercola Health Newsletter today.

Subscribe to Mercola Newsletter

Disclaimer: The entire contents of this website are based upon the opinions of Dr. Mercola, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based upon the opinions of the respective author, who retains copyright as marked.

The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Mercola and his community. Dr. Mercola encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional. The subscription fee being requested is for access to the articles and information posted on this site, and is not being paid for any individual medical advice.

If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your health care professional before using products based on this content.

• Pepper comes in several colors, but the most common are black and white. Both come from the same plant and the color difference is related to when the fruit is picked and how it’s processed

• The major bioactive compound in pepper is piperine, which is responsible for many diverse health benefits. Peppercorns are high in antioxidant properties, which may play a role in cancer, liver disease, atherosclerosis and the aging process

• Piperine increases the absorption and bioavailability of other nutrients, and has cardioprotective, neuroprotective and hepatoprotective properties

• Black pepper improves digestion, aids weight management, promotes skin and hair health, and aids in blood sugar control. Lab studies show the antiviral properties of black pepper are effective against Ebola, Dengue and SARS-CoV-2

• For best results, grind whole peppercorns just before using them to retain the flavor and potency of the health benefits

Pepper is so common that it’s easy to take for granted. Not only does this savory and spicy seasoning add a powerful kick to your meals, but it also adds an impressive boost to your health regimen. Black pepper (Piper Nigrum L.) was originally grown in the Western Ghats, a stretch of land along the west coast of India.1

The plants can be easily grown at home in a pot and by choosing when you harvest the fruit, you can get black, white, green and red peppercorns from the same plant.2 The global market is expanding and expected to grow from $3.9 billion in 2020 to $5.99 billion by 2028.3

According to a market study by Fior Markets,4 the growth is driven in part by using black pepper as a natural preservative in food products and the addition to the cosmetic industry where it’s used for its antibacterial and antioxidant properties.5 However, supply has not met demand primarily because of crop losses that resulted from climate change and sudden rains.

Black pepper has been prized since ancient times, once known as the “king of spices” and “black gold.”6 Pepper was so highly profitable that traders set their own prices, which led to the spice becoming a luxury item. Even today, the Dutch term “peperduur,” which means as expensive as pepper, is used to describe anything extremely expensive.7

Pepper has played a role in the traditional medicines of India and China,8 and is a key component in Ayurvedic medicine. It is believed that pepper was first brought from India to China for medicinal purposes and went on to be used in traditional medicine in Greece and Rome.

There are two main pepper choices — black or white pepper. While black pepper is a mainstay in many households, white pepper is equally appealing, if not quite as widely used, at least in the U.S. Color is the most obvious distinction between the two.

Some recipes use white pepper instead of black because the appearance of the final dish is lighter. However, beyond the appearance, there are other important differences, beginning with how they are processed. As for which is better, that’s a personal choice since both have great value.

As described in the short video above, white and black peppercorns are made from the fruit of the piper nigrum plant. Black peppercorns are made using unripe berries, which are then cooked and dried. The drying process gives the black peppercorn a dark appearance, wrinkled texture and pungent flavor.

White peppercorns are picked fully ripe when the fruit is red. The fruit is soaked, the outer skin is removed, and the seed is dried, which results in white peppercorns. There are subtle differences in flavor, as the black peppercorns are more pungent, and the white has an earthy flavor.

Both types of peppercorns contain similar amounts of piperine, which is the substance responsible for the pungency, heat and health benefits. Overall, white and black peppercorns contain between 6.3% and 7% of the alkaloid piperine,9 which has been shown to be beneficial for arthritis, even in small doses.10

1. Antioxidant Properties — Black pepper contains powerful antioxidants and black pepper essential oil is also rich in flavonoids, proanthocyanidins and phenolics, which also have strong antioxidant activity.11 Piperine, which is the main active ingredient, is an anti-inflammatory and helps protect against lipid peroxidation,12 which may play a role in chronic diseases like cancer, liver disease, atherosclerosis and the aging process.

   A comparative analysis of the antioxidant activity between black pepper and white pepper revealed that black pepper extracts were most effective.13 There are two commonly used pepper extracts — essential oil and oleoresins.14

   Pepper essential oil is commercially extracted from the berries using steam distillation, while pepper oleoresin is an extract using solvents and contains a blend of essential oil, compounds like piperine and resinous matter. An analysis of the antioxidant activity of essential oil and oleoresins shows both extracts have strong antioxidant activity.15

2. Maximizes the Health Benefits of Curcumin — Black pepper has a unique ability to interact with other nutrients and increase their absorption.16 For example, when EGCG from green tea is administered with piperine, the absorption of EGCG increases.17

   When piperine is administered with curcumin, it can raise the bioavailability of curcumin by up to 2,000%.18 19 The health benefits of curcumin include pain reduction,20 improving cognitive function and mood in older adults21 and a beneficial effect on irritable bowel syndrome symptoms.22

3. Cardioprotective Properties — Cardiovascular diseases continue to be among the leading causes of death.23 A systematic review24 in December 2020 found black pepper and piperine have protective effects on cardiovascular diseases.

   Key findings included regulation of lipid metabolism, inflammation and oxidation status, all of which affect heart health. Piperine specifically targeted processes associated with atherosclerosis. Other beneficial effects included attenuating high blood pressure, heart injury and fibrosis. Piperine could prevent lipid peroxidation and prevent inflammatory cells from adhering to the endothelial monolayer and has an antithrombosis effect.

   Additionally, one 2022 review25 summarized the cardioprotective benefits of black pepper against the chemotherapeutic drug-induced cardiotoxicity that occurs with the administration of chemotherapeutic drugs in those with cancer.

4. Immunomodulatory and Anticancer Activities — Piperine is packed with flavonoids, carotenes, vitamins and antioxidants that have shown a beneficial effect in the prevention of cancer.26 Lab studies have found that black pepper has an immunomodulatory effect, and it augments the production of nitric oxide while enhancing the cytotoxic activity of natural killer cells.27

   These findings suggest that black pepper plays a role in anti-tumor activities and may potentially be used to help regulate inflammatory responses and prevent carcinogenesis. Piperine also has antimutagenic and cancer-preventive effects in lab studies and animal research.28 29 30

5. Neuroprotective Properties — Animal studies have found that piperine may be beneficial for cognitive function.31 Black pepper extract significantly improved the memory in rats with Alzheimer’s-like disease,32 33 reduced damage from cerebral ischemic injury34 and had a protective effect on Parkinson-like disease.35

6. Aids in Digestion — Black pepper is believed to improve digestion by stimulating the production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach.36 A lack of hydrochloric acid can lead to heartburn or indigestion. Piperine also stimulates digestive enzymes in the pancreas which enhances digestion and reduces food transit time.37 Black pepper is also a potential prebiotic as it modulates fecal bacteria communities.38

7. Weight Management — Piperine has displayed several pharmacological effects, including anti-obesity properties in lab and animal models.39 Lab models have demonstrated that black pepper extract and piperine could strongly inhibit adipogenic activity and piperine plays a role in regulating genes associated with fat metabolism.40

   When a nutritional supplement containing black pepper was tested, it burned as many calories as would a 20-minute walk.41 A small study with 16 healthy individuals showed a black pepper-based beverage could modulate the appetite by lowering their feelings of hunger and increasing satiety.42

8. Promotes Healthy Skin — According to Stylecraze,43 black pepper can be used on your skin and hair. They recommend mixing a teaspoon of black pepper with equal amounts of honey or turmeric. Water can be added to make a smoother consistency and then apply it as a mask to your face twice a day.

   A teaspoon of crushed pepper and a bowl of curd can be used to help treat dandruff. Leave it on the scalp for about 30 minutes and wash it off with water without shampoo. Combining a teaspoon of lemon and ground black pepper seeds can help revitalize the hair and leave it shiny, according to Stylecraze. Leave it on for 10 to 15 minutes and rinse it off with cold water.

   Adding powdered black pepper with equal amounts of honey may help strengthen the hair roots. Clinical trials have also tested black pepper in the treatment of vitiligo, a disease in which the skin loses its pigment.

   Black pepper has been used in ayurvedic medicine for vitiligo44 and a paper45 published in 2018 demonstrated that combining topical piperine with narrow-band ultraviolet B light had better results than just the ultraviolet light alone in treating vitiligo.

9. Antimicrobial Properties — Plants have been used in traditional medicine for centuries, and black pepper is known for its anti-inflammatory, antiviral and antipyretic properties.46 One lab study in 2020 demonstrated that an aqueous seed extract of black pepper had significant antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal activity.47

   A molecular docking study demonstrated that piperine may be effective against Ebola and Dengue, both RNA viruses that are endemic in tropical areas.48 As you might expect, black pepper was also tested against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The study suggested that piperine was a potential inhibitor at the RNA binding site and could be a candidate to inhibit viral proliferation.49

10. Hepatoprotective Properties — The pharmacological actions of piperine include liver protection50 against damage induced by tertiary butyl hydroperoxide and the chemical carbon tetrachloride by reducing lipid peroxidation. Black pepper extract can also stimulate liver regeneration51 and one animal study52 showed black pepper essential oil improved liver health after chemical injury.

    The prevalence of liver fibrosis in the general population can reach up to 25.7%53 and can lead to significant liver disease. One animal study54 demonstrated that supplementation with piperine in rats fed a high-carbohydrate, high-fat diet could reduce liver fibrosis, improve cardiac and hepatic inflammatory cell infiltration and improve liver function.

11. Blood Sugar Control — Up to 11.3% of the U.S. population have diabetes and 38% have prediabetes.55 The consequences of diabetes are significant, leading to heart disease, stroke and kidney disease. Adding black pepper routinely to your diet may help improve blood sugar metabolism.56

    One eight-week study57 of 86 overweight individuals found those who consumed a combination of piperine and other bioactive food ingredients had a significant decrease in insulin resistance. This suggested that the ingredients, which included EGCG, capsaicin and L-Carnitine, “might be useful for the treatment of obesity-related inflammatory metabolic dysfunctions.”58

For the best results, choose to use whole peppercorns and grind them fresh as you need them. Dried whole peppercorns can stay fresh for three to four years when they’re stored in a cool, dark place away from direct sunlight or heat.59

However, once peppercorns are ground, they gradually lose some flavor and potency. Additionally, purchasing ground pepper increases the risk that the product is adulterated with something other than black pepper. Peppercorns are versatile, so you can grind them to a coarseness you enjoy or crush them to pepper coat your beef before cooking.

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