The large poster at the end of the beverage aisle caught my eye. It was mounted atop stacks of what looked like plain old water in plastic bottles and said in watery blue capital lettering: Hydrogen Infused Water.
I took chemistry in high school half a century ago, but I still remember that water is composed of two molecules of hydrogen and one of oxygen. Hence, the symbol for it on the Periodic Table of Elements is H2O.
Maybe they don’t teach chemistry in schools today, so younger generations might not know that to be water in the first place, hydrogen is involved. The cynic in me chalked the poster up to marketing efforts.
But I went home and researched the term. Turns out hydrogen infused water is a hot craze these days because of its antioxidant activity, its anti-inflammatory properties, and its ability to boost one’s energy level. At least this is what Fox News, Huff Post, and Time Magazine have said. The FDA hasn’t said any of this but has acknowledged that HWater (as it’s been dubbed) is safe.
There is more on the Internet than I wanted to know: how to infuse water (It’s not something you can do at home yet.), some confusion between drinking HWater and hydrogen peroxide (The former is safe; the latter is potentially injurious to your health), and whether it really works in the first place (The jury is still out.).
I’m just waiting for Starbucks® to introduce a line of coffee products using HWater. That’s when I’m switching to the supermarket brand.
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