Hydrogen water is water that’s been infused with extra hydrogen gas to increase the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential, drawing on years of research by medical professionals who have been exploring the benefits of inhaled hydrogen for cardiac patients, people going into and coming out of surgery, and other medical applications. Hydrogen gas can nullify many of the reactive oxygen species responsible for oxidative stress, and pre- and peri-operative hydrogen inhalation does appear to help patients recover more quickly and avoid many of the side effects inherent to surgery. But that’s inhaled hydrogen gas in a medical setting. Does commercial hydrogen water have similar benefits?
I was actually surprised to find that the research is fairly compelling. Let’s dig in.
Hydrogen water improves physical performance
Both acute and long-term hydrogen water intake can improve your performance in the gym, on the bike, or on the field.
One study had cyclists either drink hydrogen water or placebo water prior to cycling. Those who drank hydrogen water had more endurance and reported less fatigue during training.1
Hydrogen water has also been shown to reduce lactate, an objective measure of fatigue, when consumed 30 minutes before a workout. Lactate builds up with exhaustive exercise—the harder and longer you go, the more lactate you produce and the more tired you get. The researchers hypothesized that hydrogen water reduces lactate by increasing mitochondrial respiration and ATP production.2
However, another study found that a 7-day course of hydrogen water only improved exercise performance in trained athletes. Non-athletes saw no benefit.3 To really see the benefits of hydrogen water for physical performance, you probably need to be doing serious training.
If you are doing serious training or competing and need to maintain performance despite fatigue, hydrogen water can help. One recent study found that drinking hydrogen water rescued the antioxidant capacity of athletes engaged in three unbroken days of intense physical training. Moreover, they experienced no performance decline.4
Hydrogen water improves metabolic health
Metabolic syndrome is the most common illness in the country. Your average diabetic, hypertensive adult with low HDL levels and high triglycerides who’s due for a heart attack any moment? He’s got metabolic syndrome.
In patients with probable metabolic syndrome, hydrogen water consumption raises HDL and lowers LDL oxidation.5 Since oxidized LDL are a causative risk factor for heart attacks, and high HDL is protective, everyone would agree that this is a positive development.
Another study of probable metabolic syndrome patients found that hydrogen water reduced inflammatory markers while improving blood lipids and antioxidant capacity.6 Higher antioxidant capacity combined with reduced inflammatory markers suggest an increased resistance to oxidative stress.
Hydrogen water lowers elevated oxidative stress
However, hydrogen water only lowers oxidative stress if there’s oxidative stress hanging around that needs lowering. Again and again, we see little no effect on healthy people who aren’t suffering from oxidative stress.
One study gave hydrogen water to people aged between 20 and 59 years of age. Only those aged 30 years or more saw an increase in their antioxidant capacity. The younger people with a presumably lower oxidative stress load didn’t really benefit, while the older people who’d had more time to pick up some stress along the way saw benefits.
Another study found that heathy people who drank hydrogen water for four weeks straight saw no effect (good or bad) on their oxidative stress levels compared to placebo.
Meanwhile, patients with chronic hepatitis B infections see large decreases in oxidative stress upon hydrogen water intake.7
Even the exercise research I discussed earlier bears this out. When you train hard, you’re creating a transient state of oxidative stress. You’re “unhealthy” for a moment in time, and that’s where hydrogen water has an effect.
Hydrogen water improves aging
All else being equal, the older you are, the more oxidative stress you’re exposed to. Older people also tend to be more inflamed and have lower antioxidant capacities. Hydrogen water can help with all three.
In adults older than 70, hydrogen water has been shown to increase brain nutrient content, lengthen telomeres, and improve how quickly a person can stand up from a chair—all extremely important as we age.8
In both mouse models and human studies, hydrogen water improves symptoms of mild cognitive impairment.9
How does it work?
The evidence is there, but how is hydrogen exerting its antioxidant effects? There are two main theories and they both have supporting evidence.
Theory 1: Hydrogen water is a direct antioxidant that selectively scavenges and nullifies harmful reactive oxygen species. For instance in one study, butter was washed either with normal water, hydrogen-infused water, or magnesium water. Washing with both the magnesium and hydrogen water prevented the formation of amines (metabolites of amino acid breakdown) in the butter during long term storage by scavenging the oxidant species responsible. Regular water allowed amine formation.10
Theory 2: Hydrogen water is a hormetic stressor. Hormesis describes exposing an organism to a mild stressor that provokes an adaptive response. Examples of hormesis include exercise (damage the muscles and get stronger as a result), intermittent fasting/calorie restriction (light “starvation” improves metabolic health), cold exposure, and even dietary polyphenols that act like mild pesticides that provoke an anti-inflammatory antioxidant response in the body. Hydrogen water does trigger the very same NrF2 pathway that other hormetic stressors also trigger.11
These aren’t necessarily contradictory. Both can be true to some extent. In fact, many researchers believe that the hydrogen water is both a direct scavenger and a hormetic stressor.12 What definitely seems to be the case is that hydrogen water exerts antioxidant effects and can stem the tide of oxidative stress.
Do you need hydrogen water?
Not everyone.
However, if you do need it, it really seems to work. The fact that it’s selectively effective—that it has little to no effect in otherwise healthy young people who don’t really have much oxidative stress happening, instead improving the health of people experiencing high oxidative stress—is a good sign. It’s not something everyone needs to take. It’s a supplement that can help people dealing with specific disease states: metabolic syndrome, inflammatory diseases, even something like depression.13 It’s probably also helpful for people engaged in hard physical training.
In other words, it helps if you need it and has little to no effect if you don’t. It’s good if you’re sick or stressed and it’s benign if you’re not.
“Good article. I both love and loathe this app. I have not curated my photos at all. When my kids were growing up, we shared the same folder for photos, so I still have all of their youthful perspectives on trips we took, random things we found, funny little photos from a childlike view. So I love it for this mindtrip into the past. But I also loathe it. My kids are older: not old enough to understand the world independently but not young enough to share my iPhoto app anymore. Life is at a crossroads for me as a parent, and I sometimes loathe the photo reminders of this lost past. Both tears of joy and of sorrow.“
-It can be hard. Hang in there and know that without the sorrow there is no joy.
L-carnitine is a compound the human body produces in small amounts out of the amino acids lysine and methionine to facilitate the transfer of long chain fatty acids into mitochondria for energy production. But most of the carnitine we use comes from the animal products we eat, particularly red meat, and if you really want a large dose you’ll need to supplement. And that’s what most people are referring to when they talk about L-carnitine: the supplement.
As a supplement, L-carnitine offers a host of benefits across a wide variety of physiological systems:
Weight loss
Body recomposition
Energy production
Hormone optimization
Endothelial function
Heart health
Liver health
Antioxidant status and oxidative stress
Cognitive function
Let’s explore these in more detail.
Fat loss
L-carnitine increases fat utilization at the mitochondrial level, thereby reducing fat stores and increasing fat loss. Could it all be so simple? Yes, it actually works. It’s not a wonder supplement. It’s not going to result in rapid fat loss and it’s no wonder weight loss drug. But it helps:
A meta-analysis of human studies found that L-carnitine supplementation has a modest effect on fat loss.1
Body recomposition means improving the tissue distribution of your body—reducing body fat and increasing lean mass, which includes muscle, bone, and connective tissue. Body recomposition is actually even more important than “weight loss,” since we all want to lose body fat and build muscle, not just “lose weight.” Turns out that L-carnitine helps immensely with this.
Dialysis patients who take L-carnitine retain more lean muscle mass while improving their ability to function in the world.3
Children with a muscle wasting disease had much lower levels of carnitine in their blood.4
Carnitine increases fat burning in overweight subjects while maintaining lean mass and blocking the protein catabolism that normally accompanies fat loss.5
In pancreatic cancer patients, those taking carnitine lived longer and gained weight, while those not taking L-carnitine died earlier and lost weight.6
In elderly patients with rapid muscle fatigue, L-carnitine helps lower fat mass, increase strength, and increase lean muscle mass.7
Recent guidelines even stress the role of carnitine in red meat’s ability to counter sarcopenia, or muscle wasting.8
Energy production
The basic physiological role of carnitine is to facilitate the production of ATP—the body’s energy currency—in the mitochondria. If you supplement with L-carnitine, it stands to reason that you will increase energy production. Does this happen in live humans? Do they actually get more energy and reduce fatigue?
In hypothyroid patients, L-carnitine has been shown to alleviate fatigue.9
It helps older adults who suffer from rapid muscular fatigue stick to a workout plan and get stronger, fitter, and leaner in the process.
Male hormone optimization
One of the most popular reasons men take L-carnitine is to improve their hormonal milieu. Does it work?
L-carnitine increases androgen receptor activity. Without active androgen receptors, any testosterone you have has no where to go, no way to interact with the cells.11
In infertile men, L-carnitine improves sperm motility and concentration as well as testosterone and luteinizing hormone levels.12
Endothelial function
Endothelial dysfunction—characterized by poor blood flow, increased blood pressure, and low nitric oxide levels—is almost always accompanied by carnitine deficiencies, leading researchess to explore if carnitine supplementatio could
Both animal models and human studies show that carnitine supplementation lowers blood pressure.13
Carnitine supplementation has also been sown to prevent endothelial dysfunction.14
By any marker of heart health, L-carnitine improves it.
It reduces LDL and triglycerides while increasing HDL.
When given to heart failure patients, it improves function and outcomes.16
It even improves blood pressure (itself a huge predictor of heart trouble).
Liver health
A recent meta-analysis found that L-carnitine consistently and reliably lowers liver enzyme levels, which is a strong indicator that it’s’ making the liver healthier.17 Once again, this comes down to the compound’s ability to improve mitochondrial energy production and respiration—when your power plants are running smoothly, everything else falls into place.
Oxidative stress
By increasing energy production at the mitochondrial level, L-carnitine improves resilience and lowers inflammation in the face of stress, especially in people facing a lot of oxidative stress.
L-carnitine supplementation lowers CRP levels in heart disease patients, which indicates lower baseline inflammation.18
In critically ill patients, L-carnitine lowers inflammatory markers.19
Cognitive function
A large recent review concluded that L-carnitine and other carnitine supplements are effective at improving cognitive function across a broad range of dementias and cognitive degeneration diseases, primarily by improving mitochondrial respiration and ATP production. It appears to reduce age-related mitochondrial decay, reduce brain cell death, and lower brain cell stress.20
Overall, L-carnitine is a good and safe option for anyone with cognitive decline..21
Who should take L-carnitine?
Vegans and vegetarians. As red meat is the most abundant source of L-carnitine in the human diet, those who refuse to eat any meat at all tend to be low in the nutrient. 1-2 grams per day is a smart concession for any plant-based dieter. Studies show that it’s far more bioavailable in vegans/vegetarians than omnivores, which suggests they should be eating it—the body greatly desires it.22 There isn’t a ton of research on vegetarians taking the supplement, but those I’ve talked into taking it report having far more energy than before.
Hypothyroid patients: As it’s been shown to alleviate fatigue in this population, L-carnitine is a no-brainer.
Seniors who don’t eat much meat: The more frail an older person is, the lower their blood carnitine levels tend to be.23 Taking supplemental L-carnitine is an easy win.
Anyone under a lot of stress: Stress is stress is stress, and L-carnitine has been shown to help you become more resilient when faced with it.
How much L-carnitine should you take?
Doses of 1-2 grams per day split into two are typical, but doses of up to 5-6 grams per day have been taken and appear to be safe.
If you want to stick to food, 100 grams of lean beef contains around 150 mg of carnitine.
Should you worry about TMAO?
L-carnitine supplementation (or consumption via meat) increases a compound called TMAO, which is a metabolite gut bacteria produce after they come into contact with L-carnitine and other nutrients like choline. TMAO has been linked to atherosclerosis, which has led the frantic masses to worry about meat consumption and L-carnitine supplementation. Is this a legitimate worry? Can L-carnitine increase heart disease?
All the evidence we have suggests that L-carnitine reduces heart disease—just refer back to the benefits sections above. It improves the lipid profile, reducing LDL and triglycerides while increasing HDL. It improves all-cause mortality. It even lowers body weight and improves body composition. All signs point to L-carnitine improving heart health, not worsening it. That it also increases TMAO suggests that people should stop worrying about TMAO, too.
However, if you are worried about TMAO levels, eat raw garlic every day. The allicin in garlic can reduce TMAO levels.24 Crush or chop it and let it sit for ten minutes before consuming it to allow the allicin to proliferate.
That’s it for today. If you have any other questions about L-carnitine, let me know down below!
In the 3rd millennium BC, the Northern Baltic region had a bunch of parallel societies of hunters, fishers, foragers, and farmers with very little integration. What a wild time that must have been.
“Lab grown meat, fully autonomous self driving vehicles, robot dogs, AI (or AGI) – it’s all hype. We forget that we are an aspect of reality able to perform certain actions within that reality. We are not creators – in the sense of originators – of reality. Thinking we are would be like a robot in a car factory thinking it could become CEO. There are levels to things, and we are not above nature or outside of it. We are one with it.“
Imagine this: It’s a crisp autumn afternoon. A breeze is blowing crunchy leaves off the trees. There’s a fire in the fireplace. You’re wearing your comfiest sweater. Maybe a pumpkin candle burns in the background. It’s perfect, right?
Not quite.
The only thing this idyllic scene needs to achieve fall perfection is a pot of soup simmering on the stove.
Soup is the ultimate one-pot meal, but that’s not all it has going for it. There’s a reason you crave soup when you’re coming down with a cold or flu.Bone brothand other common soup ingredients like garlic andfresh herbsboast immune-supporting compounds, and the hot liquid itself can help relieve congestion. Soup is also great for folks who like to prepare meals in bulk to freeze and enjoy later. And, it’s a great way to use up the random meat and veggies in the fridge to preventfood waste.
Here are a dozen of our favorite soup recipes that will get you pumped to say, “Soup’s on!”
If you only try one recipe from this list, make it this one. It’s everything you love about chicken soup but turned up a few notches with the addition of ginger and turmeric—two are staple ingredients in traditional medicine thanks to their many beneficial properties.
Your classic chicken noodle soup made Primal, paleo, and keto friendly with a low-carb noodle alternative. (No, it’s not zucchini.) The Instant Pot pressure cooker saves time and is ideal for times when you don’t want to tend a pot on the stovetop.
Bring the flavors of Italy and San Francisco together (yes, you read that right) in this tomato-y, garlicky masterpiece. It’s easier than you might think.
A powerhouse of healthy fats that combines some ingredients you might not have tried before—red palm oil and kohlrabi or rutabaga—with Primal favorites salmon and coconut milk. Try this soup next time you’re feeling stuck in a menu rut.
Calling all garlic lovers! You simplymusttry this simple yet elegant and oh-so-delicious soup. (We like to load up on garlic during thecold and flu season.)
Get a hefty serving ofsulfur-richbroccoli in this creamy soup that somehow manages to be both light and filling. The recipe is dairy-free, but feel free to add a little (or a lot of) shredded cheese to your bowl!
Most people ignore celeriac, or celery root, at the grocery store. We get it. It looks kind of like a dirty, hairy, misshapen potato—but looks are deceiving here. Celery root has a lovely delicate flavor that makes for an absolutely wonderful blended soup.
Cabbage is abundant and affordable at farmer’s markets in the fall. If you’ve only had cabbage in coleslaw, try this recipe! When you slowly simmer it, the flavor changes considerably, becoming mild and lightly sweet.
Animal moves are great way to “trick” your child into exercising, building strength, improving mobility, and getting a great workout. The key is that rather than force exercise kids can have fun walking like a duck or instead of doing box jumps they can do frog jumps.
However, we are not quadrupeds or amphibians or water fowl—we are humans with completely different anatomies than the animals we mimic. Therefore our animal moves aren’t exactly the same as the animals who actually perform them. They might look even different if you’re an adult practicing animal movements for mobility and strength. For kids though, here are my ten favorite animal moves.
Duck Walk
To perform the duck walk, sit in a full squat with heels down and feet angling out 8 to 15%. While staying in the squat position, walk. One cue to maintain proper technique is to ensure your head doesn’t bob up and down. Aim to keep your head level as you duck walk. This is an excellent exercise for quad strength and hip mobility.
Bear Crawl
A bear crawl is straightforward. Start on all fours and move on your hands and feet, keeping your back straight and parallel with the ground. Then, crawl contralaterally, which means moving your right arm with your left foot and your left arm with your right foot—opposite arm and leg moving together. As you become comfortable, try crawling forward, backward, to the right, and to the left. Challenge yourself further by crawling upstairs and downstairs or uphill both backward and forward. This movement is an ideal general warm-up for an exercise day as it gets your shoulders firing and engages your core. One thing to consider is doing five minutes of bear crawls a day around your house. Just accumulate five minutes daily, and you will feel more limber than you ever thought possible.
Bunny Hops
Squat down on your heels and lightly place your hands on the floor in front of you for balance. Hop forward a foot or two without fully standing up, always maintaining that squatting position. Allow your hands to touch the floor, more as a reference point than as a base of support. Use this exercise to build strength in the squat’s bottom position.
Gorilla Walk
Begin in a position similar to the bunny hop, but with feet slightly wider and more weight on the hands. To move in the gorilla walk, place most of the weight on your arms and catapult your lower body forward. Imagine being a silverback gorilla vaulting through the jungle on your massive knuckles.
Kangaroo Hop
This is similar to the bunny hop, but there’s no arm involvement. It’s all about the quads and legs. Keep your torso more upright and hop along. You can also achieve a bit more hip extension on the jump, making it feel like more of a leap.
Backwards Snake Crawl
Lay down on your back and cross your arms. Move your hips and push off with your feet to crawl backward, pulling with your shoulder blades. This movement closely mimics a snake crawl. The key is to minimize limb use and rely mainly on your torso’s gyration.
Alligator Crawl
For the alligator crawl, start in a low plank position, as if you’re at the bottom of a push-up, with weight on your hands and toes. Keep your belly and chest just above the ground and crawl. Start slowly, then try speeding up as you get the hang of it. This crawl might be one of the most challenging ones and is excellent for building isometric arm, tricep strength, and core tension.
Frog Jump
The frog jump starts in a full squat. From there, jump as high and far as you can, landing back in a squat, then repeat. Ensure you maintain technical integrity; it’s not a race. Each jump should represent maximal output with perfect technique. If you begin to feel tired and notice sloppy technique, stop the exercise. This jump is excellent for peak power output. If you continue frog jumps into your 40s, 50s, or even older, you’ll be in a good position for long-term fitness.
Monkey Bars (Two Ways)
There are a couple ways to do the monkey bars.
Bent arms: You can muscle your way across, keeping your arms flexed/bent as you pull yourself across from bar to bar. This is the fastest way to traverse the bars, but it’s also very hard on your arms. A great bicep workout.
Straight arms: You can also swing with straight arms, using the momentum of your swinging legs and torso to carry you from bar to bar. This isn’t about arm strength, rather it’s predicated on being in rhythm and having a strong enough grip and stable shoulder girdle to support you going the distance.
Crab Walk
Sit on the ground with your legs stretched out in front of you. From that position, place your hands and feet flat on the ground and lift yourself up so your body is no longer touching. Keeping your hips elevated, walk around forward, backward, and sideways. Always move contra laterally. Right hand, left foot. Left hand, right foot.
How to Use Animal Moves
Kids can use animal moves at any point in the day, but if you’re wondering when best to incorporate them take a look at the below suggestions:
A morning routine: Every morning, do 30 seconds to a minute of each of the animal moves. It’s a great way to start the day and get some movement going and blood flowing.
Microworkouts: Every couple hours or so, do a minute or two of animal moves. Use them to break up sitting on the couch for extended amounts of time or better encourage them while kids are watching TV.
Warmups: Animal moves are great for warming up before a more intense activity. If your kid plays soccer duck walks, alligator walks, and frog jumps. If they play a racket sport try bear crawls or straight arm monkey bars. The point of a warmup is to increase body temperature, elevate the heart rate, and mobilize the targeted muscles and joints. Animal moves are great for all that.
Animal moves are a great way to have fun, build strength and mobility, and increase athleticism. Plus, they’re not just for kids, they’re great exercises for kids too. Thanks for reading, everyone. Take care.
“Interesting New Yorker article on carnivory. One big problem with a carnivore diet is that it’s expensive. Obviously, it’s somewhat offset by the fact that one isn’t buying a lot of the other food people usually buy, but it’s still going to be quite costly.
The other problem is that for many of us, it’s unappetizing. I grew up eating a wide variety of vegetables, mostly grown in my dad’s garden. We also ate meat or fish with most meals, but we never ate meat, poultry or fish exclusively. I really like veggies and remain unconvinced that eliminating them is the long-range answer for me and my family. For that reason, I prefer to stick with a more paleo way of eating.“
Imagine this: It’s a crisp autumn afternoon. A breeze is blowing crunchy leaves off the trees. There’s a fire in the fireplace. You’re wearing your comfiest sweater. Maybe a pumpkin candle burns in the background. It’s perfect, right?
Animal moves are great way to “trick” your child into exercising, building strength, improving mobility, and getting a great workout. The key is that rather than force exercise kids can have fun walking like a duck or instead of doing box jumps they can do frog jumps.
