263. Why I Changed My Mind About Hydrogen Water (with Tyler LeBaron)

Paul Saladino MD podcast

Paul Saladino, MD

Medicine, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 28 July 2025

⏱️ 121 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ever wondered why a molecule as simple as hydrogen could influence everything from Parkinson's to metabolic syndrome?

We explored how molecular hydrogen selectively targets only the most harmful free radicals while leaving beneficial ones alone, making it fundamentally different from every other antioxidant supplement gathering dust in your cabinet.

The six-month metabolic syndrome study particularly caught my attention: participants drinking hydrogen water saw improvements in glucose levels, HbA1c, inflammation markers, and even lost weight – with no diet changes or exercise requirements.

Tyler breaks down why those expensive alkaline water machines aren't doing what you think (spoiler: it's not about pH), why hydrogen inhalation requires serious safety considerations, and exactly how to dose hydrogen water for maximum benefit.

And on top of all this, we tackle why this primordial molecule – literally present since the beginning of the universe – seems almost designed to work with human biology, and why megadoses of vitamins C and E can actually harm exercise performance while hydrogen acts as a fine-tuning modulator.

Timestamps:

0:00 Hydrogen's effects on major diseases

2:45 Six-month metabolic syndrome study results

5:15 Hydrogen only targets toxic radicals

6:08 Divine properties of hydrogen molecule

10:12 Basic chemistry of oxidation and reduction

15:30 Dangers of excessive antioxidants

23:45 How hydrogen modulates antioxidant systems

47:20 Hydrogen production in your gut

56:30 Inhaled vs drinking hydrogen water

61:15 Explosive dangers of hydrogen inhalation

71:30 Therapeutic dosing for hydrogen water

85:45 Debunking alkaline and structured water

94:30 Tyler's elite athletic performance secrets

Disclaimer:

Dr. Paul Saladino received his medical degree from the University of Arizona Medical School. His use of "doctor" or "Dr." in relation to himself solely refers to that degree. Dr. Saladino is a licensed physician in California, but he no longer practices in any state and does not see patients so he can focus on educating people full time.

This video is for general informational purposes only. It should not be used to self-diagnose and it is not a substitute for a medical exam, cure, treatment, diagnosis, or prescription. It does not create a doctor-patient relationship between Dr. Saladino and you. Always consult your physician before making any health decisions.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	What conditions has hydrogen inhalation, molecular hydrogen through water?
0:05.0	What conditions has this been studied for?
0:07.0	There's around 3,000 publications so far, over 200 human studies, Parkinson disease, diabetes,
0:13.0	metabolic syndrome, stroke, cancer, obviously, Alzheimer's, dementia.
0:17.0	You gave hydrogen water to people for six months and they saw improvements in multiple markers that give us an indication of metabolic syndrome.
0:22.6	We found that the subjects drink in hydrogen water had improved glucose levels.
0:26.6	In fact, there was even a loss of weight, you know, improved BMI.
0:29.6	Hygiene is very different because it actually does not have the physical chemical property to neutralize these other free radicals.
0:38.3	Hydrogen can only react or only neutralize the most toxic free radicals.
0:42.6	It almost feels divine, and it's like a divine molecule. It's wild.
0:45.6	God did make the world with the word. That word would be hydrogen.
0:49.0	On this week's podcast, I talked to Dr. Tyler Labaron.
0:51.4	He's probably one of the world's leading experts on hydrogen. We go into hydrogen water, inhaled hydrogen. We go into structured water, alkaline water. Are these real? Are they a scam? We talk about how much to dose the water, the protocols. We talk about the benefits, what it's actually doing in your body. I'm not really a biohacker. I just prefer to go out in the ocean, go barefoot and surf. But I've gotten really interested in this recently, and some of the research is pretty impressive. So I think you guys are really going to find this one interesting. If you're skeptical of hydrogen water, I think you may be changed in your mind at the end of this podcast. So stick with this one. It's very technical, but I tried to break down the parts that are more technical during the podcast. If you have questions, put them below in the comments. My team will try and answer them, or I can answer them on YouTube or wherever you're watching this podcast. We're going to try and put stuff on the screen to make the technical things more digestible, but this podcast is worth your time. Enjoy this podcast with Tyler LeBaron. Dr. Tyler LeBaron. All right.
1:44.5	Thanks for coming on the podcast. Oh, thank you. Is there a PhD in molecular hydrogen?
1:48.5	What is your PhD in? Well, okay, so my PhD is in physiology. And I do my dissertation on
1:54.5	cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases where we used molecular hydrogen as one of the
1:59.7	modalities for treatment modalities. So it's not like
2:02.3	a PhD and a hydrogen like that doesn't quite make sense.
2:05.0	But you did a dissertation on hydrogen. Yeah. And my match is we also studied hydrogen gas. And anyway,
2:09.9	it's been a big part of my life since 2009. So 16 years for a while. Yeah. So I did not know
2:16.0	anything about hydrogen before the last year or so, maybe six months. You know, I heard your name. My friend Gary Breckis talked about it. I was like, I don't know about this, but I've gotten really interested in this recently. And I don't think of myself as a biohacker. I live in Costa Rica. I walk around barefoot shirtless and I'm in the ocean most of the time, so I'm doing like like biohacking in nature. But some of these things are coming on my radar recently.
2:17.5	You know, hyperbaric chambers,
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 26 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Paul Saladino, MD, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Paul Saladino, MD and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.