The Potential Impact of Hydrogen as a Preventive and Therapeutic Medical Gas: A Mini-Review

Background: The purpose of this concise review article is to introduce an emerging scientific area which is now under investingation prolifically and may provide a great impact in the area of preventive and therapeutic applications. In this brief review, we will first rationalize the reason why the application of hydrogen gas is more superior than other antioxidants in the alleviation of the oxidative stress in various diseases. Next, examples of using hydrogen gas as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of various oxidative stress-triggered chronic degenerative diseases including cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and cardiovascular disease will be given in order to highlight its potential applicability. Finally, many unresolved problems regarding hydrogen medicine will be pointed out for the purpose of encouraging scientific community for collaboration in order to solve some of the untoward problems that are encountered.