According to the Rome III criteria, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is characterized by abdominal pain or abdominal discomfort accompanied by changes in bowel habits. In combination with the Asian population, including the Chinese IBS characteristics, IBS is defined as abdominal pain, bloating or other abdominal discomfort as the main symptoms, symptoms improved after defecation, often accompanied by changes in bowel habits [frequency and / or traits], lack of clinical routine Check for organic lesions that can be found to explain these symptoms. Nowadays, irritable bowel syndrome is already a common disease, and the incidence rate in the world is as high as 11%. In recent years, China has also gradually increased. Xiong Lishou and other surveys in Guangdong Province found that the standardized prevalence of IBS (11.50%) in line with Manning criteria was higher than the Rome III standard (5.67%). The disease has a very large adverse effect on the quality of life of patients, although appropriate treatment can improve symptoms but is difficult to cure. Patients with irritable bowel syndrome are often accompanied by psychological disorders such as anxiety, major depression, and chronic fatigue syndrome. The underlying causes of this disease and related performance are currently unclear. Relevant factors include intestinal bacterial overgrowth syndrome, genetic factors, food allergies, gastrointestinal motility disorders, brain and intestinal axis changes, intestinal sensitivity and psychosocial factors. Recent studies have shown that the intestinal microbiota may be an important factor in the development of the disease.
    Many drugs are used for symptomatic treatment of the disease, such as antacids, anticonvulsants, drugs that stimulate gastrointestinal motility, but lack of convincing evidence and pathophysiological basis to demonstrate the effectiveness of these drugs. Others have tried alternative treatments such as diet, probiotics and other drugs. Mineral water containing various electrolytes is also used to treat functional gastrointestinal diseases. It has been reported that certain mineral waters can improve functional dyspepsia and irritable bowel syndrome by controlling gastric acid and intestinal transit time. Carbonated water can also improve the symptoms of indigestion. High-sulfur mineral water can effectively treat constipation by increasing the frequency of bowel movements.

    Alkaline water has also been considered to improve digestive tract function. And some studies have found that hydrogen water has a certain impact on the intestinal flora. Animal experiments provide a large body of evidence that electrolyzed water has therapeutic effects on functional bowel disease and colitis, but lacks human research evidence. The purpose of this randomized, double-blind trial was to evaluate the effect of electrolyzed hydrogen water on diarrhea-type irritable bowel syndrome.
    Twenty-seven patients with irritable bowel syndrome were randomly divided into two groups. Thirteen people in the hydrogen water group drank more than 2 liters of hydrogen water per day for 8 weeks, while 14 people in the control group drank similar placebo water (normal water). Irritable bowel syndrome scores such as quality of life, abdominal pain or discomfort, stool shape, and stool frequency were used as indicators to conduct a questionnaire survey before and after the trial. The results showed that 8 drinking electrolyzed hydrogen water (61.5%) and 6 control groups (42.9%) improved, the quality of life index of irritable bowel syndrome decreased from 57.2 to 30.8, and the control group decreased from 48.7 to 42.2. The difference between the two groups was significant (p = 0.029). This shows that hydrogen water can improve the quality of life of irritable bowel syndrome. The index of abdominal pain in the hydrogen water group decreased from 1.8 to 0.9, and the control group decreased from 1.8 to 1.1. The difference between the two groups was not significant. From the results of the article, the data of each group were different every week, especially the difference of 4-6 weeks. The lack of statistical difference is mainly due to the small sample size. This suggests that drinking hydrogen water is not ideal for the improvement of irritable bowel syndrome. The results suggest that drinking water for 8 weeks can improve the quality of life of diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome. This study suggests that hydrogen water is worthy of a large-scale clinical study of irritable bowel syndrome.

From China Sun Xuejun