A gas once considered useless made it into Nature Medicine — and from there into a 500 ml bottle
In short: what you get
The WHIEDA hydrogen stick is a finely perforated metal tube with an alloy inside. Below is the story of how a gas from a Tokyo laboratory ended up in the bottle on your desk.
In May 2007, Professor Shigeo Ohta's group at Nippon Medical School published a paper in Nature Medicine that changed how hydrogen was seen. The first author was Ikuroh Ohsawa (PubMed). Inside cells, hydrogen behaved selectively. It neutralises only the most vicious of the oxygen radicals — hydroxyl, •OH. The cell needs the other reactive oxygen species to do its work, and hydrogen leaves them alone. The experiments were on cells and rats: this is a study of hydrogen, not of our stick. And so a new field was born — hydrogen medicine.
Seven years later, Ohta recalled what hydrogen had been before that paper: the H₂ molecule “had been regarded as inert and nonfunctional in our body” (Ohta, 2014).
The number of times scientists had cited the Ohsawa and Ohta paper as of 13 October 2026, according to OpenAlex. In 2015 there were 533 citations, almost five times fewer.
Before 2007, PubMed held 31 papers on hydrogen water and medical hydrogen. Since 2007, 1,454 have appeared. In 2008 there were 10 papers a year; in 2025, 168 (PubMed count as of 13 October 2026).
About half of these papers were written with Chinese scientists, and almost one in five with Japanese ones.
Hydrogen is the first element of the periodic table and the lightest substance there is. It makes up about three quarters of all ordinary matter in the Universe: stars, interstellar gas (Wikipedia).
1766 · London
Henry Cavendish obtains a gas from metal and acid and calls it “inflammable air.” He is the first to describe hydrogen as a distinct substance. Cavendish was called the richest of the learned and the most learned of the rich, and he was so shy that he communicated with his maids by notes. (Wikipedia)
1781
Cavendish notices that when his gas burns, it produces water.
1783 · Paris
Lavoisier names the gas hydrogène — from the Greek words for “water” and “I give birth.”
1824 · Russia
The chemist Mikhail Solovyov proposes the word “vodorod” (“water-born”). Before him, in 1801, Severgin wrote “water-making substance.” (Wikipedia)
1992 · France
COMEX diver Théo Mavrostomos “descends” to 701 metres in a hyperbaric chamber. He breathes a mixture of hydrogen, helium and oxygen. It is the human depth record. (Wikipedia)
1997 · Japan
Kyushu University professor Sanetaka Shirahata begins studying “reduced water” and looks in it for the secret of legendary springs — Hita in Japan and Nordenau in Germany, to which rumour adds Lourdes and Tlacote in Mexico. (PubMed)
2021 · Tokyo
For the first time in history, the cauldron of the 2020 Games burns hydrogen. It was produced from water at a solar plant in Fukushima. A hydrogen flame is colourless, so the fire was tinted with soda to make it yellow. (nendo studio, Hydrogen Fuel News)
The stick repeats Cavendish's experiment, only instead of acid it uses ordinary drinking water. No fire, no flasks, no factory.
How many times lighter a hydrogen molecule is than an oxygen molecule. It is smaller than both oxygen and nitrogen, so it seeps through almost anything, even the plastic of a bottle (Wikipedia).
How do you give a person hydrogen when the gas is so volatile? Japanese scientists solved it simply. They placed a stick of 99.9% pure metallic magnesium in a 500 ml bottle. The magnesium met the water, and the water became saturated with hydrogen. In a closed bottle the gas held for 12 to 36 hours. The finished water gained almost no minerals: less than a milligram of magnesium and calcium per litre (Nakao et al., 2010). This is a description of the method from a hydrogen study, not of our stick. The principle is the same.
Inside the WHIEDA stick is a metal alloy, and the white sediment it leaves is, according to the manufacturer, magnesium hydroxide crystals. So magnesium is working in your bottle, just as in the Japanese laboratory.
By 2016 hydrogen water had become a craze in Japan. The Japanese press valued the market at 20 billion yen. Big companies such as Ito En and Panasonic entered the market, and the weekly Shukan Shincho wrote that even racehorses were being given it to drink (Daily Shincho).
In December that year, the National Consumer Affairs Center tested 19 products. In two out of ten bottles no hydrogen was found at all. In three out of five products with the concentration stated on the label, it turned out to be lower than claimed. The gas also escaped after opening: in a resealed bottle 30–60% remained after 5 hours, and about 10% after a day. When the water was poured into a cup, 50–60% of the hydrogen was left after an hour. The Center’s advice: drink it straight away (Kokusen).
Hydrogen is better not shipped from a factory but produced where it is drunk. The stick sits in your bottle and keeps producing fresh gas all the time.
The market survived the test. In 2025, according to a survey by the trade paper Kenko Sangyo Shimbun, it grew by 14.1% and passed 30 billion yen again (kenko-media).
Where the gas is bornAt the factory
TravelWarehouse, shop, bag
After openingThe gas escapes; drink at once
PurchaseEvery bottle anew
Where the gas is bornIn your bottle
TravelNone
After openingThe stick works as long as it lies in water
PurchaseTwo sticks, each for 6–8 months
All the chemistry of the stick fits into one line: magnesium and water give magnesium hydroxide and hydrogen. Mg + 2H₂O → Mg(OH)₂ + H₂.
The tube
On the outside is a metal tube dotted with tiny holes. Water flows through the holes and washes over the alloy inside. The box carries the WHIEDA logo: the company sells the stick in Russia and the CIS.
A grain of magnesium
At normal pressure, a litre of water holds about 1.6 mg of hydrogen. To saturate a 500 ml bottle to that limit, about 10 mg of magnesium is enough. That’s a mere grain, which is why the stick keeps working for months.
White sediment
It appears at the bottom if the water is not changed for a long time. Magnesium hydroxide is the basis of the old pharmacy “milk of magnesia”, a name coined in 1872. In the food industry it is additive E528, and in the US it is on the list of substances generally recognised as safe (Wikipedia).
Film and vinegar
Magnesium hydroxide builds up on the metal as a film and slows the reaction (Wikipedia). Vinegar dissolves this film, and the magnesium works at full strength again. That is why the stick is cleaned with vinegar once a week.
Two studies come closest to the bottle on your desk: in them, healthy people drank hydrogen water.
A pilot study, Japan, 2012. Ten professional footballers, average age 21, spent a week drinking water in which two magnesium sticks had stood for a day. For comparison they were given water with an identical stick without magnesium, and neither the players nor the researchers knew which was which. After heavy exercise on a bike, those who drank hydrogen water showed no rise in blood lactate. Their leg muscles began to tire later during a hundred maximal extensions. Oxidative stress markers, however, did not change (Aoki et al., 2012).
Seoul National University, 2020. 38 healthy adults aged 20 to 59 drank 1.5 litres a day of hydrogen water or ordinary water for four weeks. The study was double-blind and placebo-controlled. Overall, the groups’ antioxidant measures did not differ. But in participants over 30, the blood’s antioxidant potential rose more than in the control group. And in the hydrogen group fewer blood cells died (Sim et al., 2020).
You don’t drink much water
In the morning the bottle is on your desk; by evening you’ve drunk one glass. Your own bottle with a stick inside is a simple habit that’s easy to keep.
You work out
After the gym, the pool or a run, you’re very thirsty. The bottle with the stick travels with you in your bag.
You’re tired of carrying water home
One bottle, tap water through a household filter. No bags or crates from the shop.
You like to see results
pH and ORP can be measured with a household tester in a minute — you see the numbers with your own eyes.
The stick has no plug, no buttons and no charging. The first preparation takes a quarter of an hour; after that you simply top up the water.
First clean
Fill a 500 ml plastic bottle with half water and half 3% vinegar, drop in the stick, close it and shake for 10 seconds. Open and leave for 15 minutes. Rinse the bottle and stick until the water runs clear.
Fully in the water
The stick must always be completely under water. Running water is best; you can use a household filter. Sparkling and boiled water are not suitable.
Up to 8 glasses a day
If the taste seems too strong, dilute with ordinary drinking water.
Poured it — drink it
Hydrogen escapes quickly from an open glass, so it’s best to finish the glass within an hour.
Faster and stronger
You can put both sticks in the bottle: the water will saturate faster.
Once a week, clean it with vinegar, as in the first preparation. Change the water in the bottle at least every three days. A stick lasts 6–8 months after the first cleaning. For water only: tea, coffee and juice will not do. Do not heat: kettle, microwave and hot water are ruled out. Tightly sealed glass containers are not suitable, as hydrogen pressure can damage them. Keep away from children and fire.
How can you tell there is hydrogen in the water?
The easiest way is with an ORP or hydrogen tester — they are sold for home use. Hydrogen water gives a negative ORP. If the tester shows nothing, the stick usually missed its first vinegar clean or was left out in the air. Clean it and test again.
Why does the water become alkaline?
The alkalinity comes from the same magnesium hydroxide. It barely dissolves, so alkalinity has a natural ceiling: even a saturated solution does not rise above pH 10.4. The longer the stick is in the water, the higher the pH — up to 9.5, the manufacturer says. In the Japanese experiment with a magnesium stick, the pH was 7.9–8.1.
Is hydrogen medicine serious?
In Tokyo, Keio University runs a Center for Molecular Hydrogen Medicine. In 2024 American doctors reviewed 25 studies on hydrogen water. They called the early results encouraging and are waiting for large, rigorous studies. Keio Center on PubMed ↗ Dhillon et al., 2024 ↗
Why are there two sticks in the set?
You can use them one after the other: when the first has served its time, the second takes over. You can keep two bottles, one at home and one at work. Or you can drop both into one bottle so the water saturates faster.
The gas that gives birth to water has returned to water. Magnesium and a 500 ml bottle — the same setup with which Japanese scientists began their human trials.
A set of two sticks costs 5,000 ₽, or 2,500 ₽ per stick. Used one after the other, a set lasts 12–16 months — about 10–14 ₽ a day. The product card shows whether it is in stock right now.
