The Negative Hydrogen Ion, |
My mission in presenting this site (it has been on the air since about 10/2000) is to offer an educational and balanced, decidedly non-missionary introduction to primeval antioxidants. You will find no fanaticism, no rigidity, no over-zealousness on these pages, and no judgments of people or diets which do not conform any diets mentioned here, although you may find some ample -- and sometimes silly or crazy -- humor. Please enjoy this site; feel free to explore it fully! I firmly believe that there is no place for fanaticism, fundamentalism, sanctimoniousness or rigidity in nutrition, health, science, diet or lifestyle. My background? I have had a number of careers over my lifetime. I have an undergraduate degree in Psychology, a strong undergraduate background in electronics engineering and astrophysics as well, graduate-level background in clinical psychology and the health sciences, graduate background in acupuncture (Five Elements, Worsley method) and a broad and deep Master's degree in health and wellness research (health sciences). I have a strong avocational background in nutrition, antioxidant nutrition, heart-centered meditation, esoteric systems of energy healing, spiritual healing, and all kinds of alternative health research. I own a small research laboratory devoted to antioxidant nutritional research and to detection of heart-centered coherent rhythms in humans. To see a more complete "About the Author" page, including my resumes, please click here. To contact the author, please click here . sincerely, This freely-offered educational website has been totally self-supported by the author, Vinny Pinto, since its inception (and many of my websites were started between August 2000 and June 2003). While I offer the content on this website freely, as a gift to all from my heart, it is quite obvious that not only did my research in these realms (and also my training, including formal education, that allowed me to offer this material in the first place) incur costs, but there are also monthly and yearly costs associated with web hosting, domain registration, etc. As you have likely noticed, I have chosen not to accept any advertising on any of my websites. As a result of all of these factors, any funds that you might choose to donate toward supporting my research work and this site will be very much appreciated. Thus, I am seeking donations to help me to support this site -- even two dollars helps! If you wish to donate, you may do so by using your credit card, ATM card, debit card, or transfer from your bank account, via fully secure means. To make a donation, please go to the Donations and Support page! All transactions are secure; in all cases, you get to choose the donation amount! Thank you very much! Vinny |
In the latter half of the 20th century, it became apparent that the negative hydrogen ion ion was not as rare and short-lived in nature on our planet's surface as once thought. Indeed, by the 1990s it became apparent the H-minus ion is ubiquitous in the biochemistry of life forms on earth, and essential to certain key biochemical reactions related to the citric acid cycle (Krebs cycle) in living organisms. By the late 1990's, it became obvious that several common antioxidants found in plants and animals (Vitamin E among them) function as an antioxidant by acting as a transport vessel for the H- ion, donating it at the right time within living systems to neutralize any of several species of oxygen free radicals (oxidizing radicals), also known as reactive oxygen species (ROS) occurring in tissues or fluids in or around the cells. It also became generally recognized by the late 1990s that the likely mechanism by which certain key energy-transport molecules in living systems were formed and subsequently regenerated after "being burned" (e.g. NAD conversion to NADH), was via donation of H- to the molecule by a donor molecule, the origins of which ultimately traced back to the energy liberated from sunlight during photosynthesis.
In
other words,
hydrogen and the H-
ion have emerged as the primary energy currency in living
systems.
An excellent and simple example is the binary pair NAD and
NADH.
NADH is well known as a powerful energy carrier in living systems, and
to play a key part in the energy currency of most cells of many life
forms,
including those of humans, while NAD is its low-energy combustion
product.
There are pathways in many organisms, including humans, which can, to a
limited extent, recharge the NAD with an H- ion to convert it back to
the
high energy form of NADH. Thus the NAD, as the low-energy
state,
serves as both a precursor to NADH and a combustion product of
NADH.
As such, NAD can be visualized as the "ground state", and NADH as the
high-energy
state. Indeed, a rather expensive nutritional supplement
(ENADA,
40 tablets for about $50) has been available on the health food market
for 10 years which supplies NADH in an active yet stable form, and this
supplement has been shown in the literature to increase cellular energy
levels and to reverse certain chronic diseases, along with some types
of
dementia, among other positive effects.
Hydrogen
and its H- ion as Energy Currency
in Life Forms
The
dialog
immediately preceding is
of great interest, because it might be construed as suggesting that
hydrogen,
at least the H- ion, might be the primary energy currency of
life.
Indeed, closer and deeper examination of the literature shows that this
this idea is hardly new. As early as the 1950's, Nobel
Prize-winning
biochemist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi proposed in a number of articles and
books
that hydrogen is the true energy currency of life, and is the true
"currency"
or carrier of energy in photosynthesis. He stressed that this
energy
currency may be traced directly back to the sun, or more literally, to
the energy contained in sunlight. This is especially
fascinating
in light of the discovery of latter 20th century astronomy that much of
the sun's atmosphere is composed of the H- ion. In essence,
one can
see that hydrogen and its H- ion, located in the sun millions of miles
away, donate energy in forms which allow photosynthetic organisms on
earth
to also liberate the H- ion from compounds which were initially at a
lower
energy state, and then bind and transport that H- ion as energy
currency
to support a wide range of life on earth.
Some Sources of Moving Water
Some sources of moving water, especially those in open air, such as some rivers and streams, exhibit significant amounts of the H-minus ion. It appears that at least some of this accretion of H-minus ions is due to the passage of water through gradient electric and magnetic fields due, in part, to the earth's magnetic field, atmospheric and geological electric fields, and fields induced by solar storms and other solar and cosmic phenomena.
Life Forms such as Plant and Animals
Photosynthetic plants and other photosynthetic organisms:
The primary, and likely sole, source of H- in most land-based vascular plants is simply photosynthesis, as noted above; some bacteria, mostly in the phototrophic family, also have this ability. Many can also liberate H and it's ions even in the absence of light, if they are provided with an ample food source. The H- ion has been noted to be relatively fragile when stored in both water and biological systems, and much of the content of atomic H and the H- ion of plant and animal tissue disappears upon consistent heating, as might be applied when humans cook and prepare plant and animal foods.Land-based and upper sea-based animals:
Since the ultimate source of the food chain for all land-based animals and animals which inhabit the upper levels of the seas is photosynthetic plant (including algae) life, it is rather obvious that the primary source (notwithstanding some geological sources such as water) of H- in land animals is plant life.Szent-Gyorgyi noticed that the H- ion seemed to occur in greater concentration in certain mammalian organs and tissues than in others. Briefly, he reported that the highest concentrations were found in the following tissues (listed in descending order proportional to amount of H-ion present):
Deep-sea organisms and deep-geology organisms:
- liver
- intestine
- kidney
- heart
- lung
- spleen
- (muscle)
One of the minor mysteries of modern biology has been the discovery of a multitude of life forms, often bacterial, which can and do exist in fissures deep within the earth and at the bottom of the deepest seas, often at rather high temperatures and pressures. Indeed, some of the sea-floor organisms even exist at geothermal vents which spew hot gases or magma. One of the mysteries here, aside from how the organisms survive the high pressures and high temperatures, has been how these organisms derive energy in the obvious complete absence of sunlight and the absence as well of any obvious organic food sources. Studies conducted in the 1980s and later showed a high concentration of methane and other "organic" gases (from deep earth deposits) at many of these sites, and it appears that many of these organisms derive their energy by consuming complex hydrocarbons or simple hydrocarbons. It has also been discovered that many deep sea organisms seem to employ a variety of clathrates in their tissues. Clathrates are unique compounds which have been found to act as catalysts or facilitators for a wide variety of biochemical reactions, including some involved with the energy currency of the cell. Further, clathrates can act as "cages" or chelating transporters for several substances. This author has theorized that clathrates may bestow a survival advantage upon deep-sea and deep-geology organisms by helping them to recover H- as energy currency from methane and other hydrocarbons, and perhaps even to scavenge H- directly from non-biological primitive hydrogen (H2, H and even H- ) seepage from deep in the earth.
So, aside from its role in the energy currency of living cells, H- is also a primary, primitive, primal and primeval antioxidant, and one could even argue that it is the only primary antioxidant and the only primitive antioxidant. Why? Well, it is the only effective antioxidant with powerful effects in living systems which is not formed only in life forms (e.g., green plants), but is also formed easily via purely physical means in the "outside world"; H- is formed easily in water, ice or moisture laden air (water vapor) via exposure to ionizing radiation, an electrical discharge (plasma or spark), or an electrical current in water strong enough to produce electrolysis. This surely qualifies it as a primitive, primeval and primal antioxidant, since it pre-dated the existence of life on earth. Further, the incredibly tiny size of the H- ion, coupled with its extremely small mass qualifies it not only as the lightest and smallest of all known antioxidants, but also the most ubiquitous -- meaning that it can travel almost anywhere in biological systems (bodies, etc.) due to it's tiny mass and size.
Due
to these
factors, plus its incredible
power as a reducing agent or antioxidant, several authors have posited
that the H- ion is "the" primal antioxidant, and the candidate most
likely
to effectively neutralize most common oxygen free radicals (aka
reactive
oxygen species, or ROS) both within and outside the body. For
all
of the above cited reasons, the H- ion has sometimes been labeled the
"Paleolithic
Antioxidant", the "Neanderthal Antioxidant" and the "primeval
Antioxidant".
Additionally, anyone consuming relatively fresh, and unheated and untreated (and unfiltered) water from any of the following sources may also consume a significant amount of H- ions:
H-minus
ion in foods
Some
folks decide to
eliminate highly
processed and heated foods from their diets, and instead, choose to
incorporate
large amounts of raw foods such as raw vegetative products (fruits,
vegetables),
and sometimes raw animal products (raw eggs, dairy, fish and meats) as
well. Some also choose to start drinking unprocessed and
unfiltered
water from natural deep aquifers. The very act of switching
to such
a diet of raw, unprocessed foods drastically increases the availability
of the H-minus ion in the daily intake.
H-minus ion donor supplements in liquid form
Water
Ionizers
The
most ubiquitous
supplemental source
of the H-minus ion for the past 45 years in Japan and past 15 years in
the USA has been so-called "alkaline ionized water", also known as
"microwater", from kitchen countertop water
ionizers. This water is more
accurately
called electrolyzed reduced water (ERW); which is the naming convention
which most commonly appears in articles in scientific literature to
denote
this water. Such water, as produced at the cathodic pole via
electrolysis
in the water ionizers, does indeed exhibit an alkaline pH
(poorly-buffered),
but more importantly, it has an ORP of -150 (mildly reducing) to -850
(strongly
reducing), indicating a high degree of reducing activity and strong
presence
of the H- ion. This water from the cathode, or negative pole,
of
an ionizer, is often called "reduced water" due to its reducing, or
antioxidant
activity, and has been called "microwater" by some commercial vendors
due
to the fact that the water exhibits a smaller cluster size than
"normal"
water, due to the restructuring of the water from charge of the H- ions
in their protective cages of water molecules.
Click here for a link to a page on this site containing further information on household and commercial water ionizers and their use for producing electrolyzed reduced water (ERW) for home consumption.
Click here for link to a page on this site which offers further notes on water ionizers (including filtration), and high strength electrolyzed reduced water. This informational article offers further notes on countertop water ionizers, filtration of water in the ionizers, and consumption of alkaline or reduced electrolyzed water, including consumption of ultra-strong electrolyzed reduced water with an ORP stronger than -550 mv., and, in some cases, with an ORP stronger than -800 mv.
For
more information on
using ORP as an
imprecise correlate for reducing (antioxidant) activity, see the
on-site
page entitled: ORP
and Some Myths About Reducing/Antioxidant Activity
H- donor supplements in powder and capsule form
MegaH
(aka
MegaH-)™ Caplets
For many
years, a commercial
product has also been available in powder and capsule form as a
nutritional
supplement. This product is a unique silica hydride which
stores
the H- ion in a cage formed within a silica structure, and is
marketed
commercially under the names MegaH (aka MegaH-, aka
Megahydrin)™, Active H-
, and more rarely, Flanagan Hydrogen Enhanced Silica,
or "FHES".
NMR spectromeric analysis has conclusively proven the existence of the
hydride ion in this product. This product was developed by
scientist/inventor
Patrick Flanagan, and the unique silica hydride mimics the way in which
nature stores the H-ion in tiny rounded amorphous silica particles in
glacial
runoff streams from high-altitude glaciers. Indeed, it has
been theorized
by more than one author that some of the excellent health and longevity
exhibited by high mountain peoples (Villacambas, Hunzas) may be in part
due to their ingestion of this H-ion laden water (as well as
to their
primitive diet of unprocessed foods). This silica-based
product acts
as a reservoir for the hydride ion, and releases it gradually over time
after being exposed to water. As such, it is able to store a
much
larger quantity of the H- ion in a given volume than can electrolyzed
reduced
water. This offers the hydride ion in concentrated and
gradual-release
form, allowing easy transport while traveling, and eliminating the need
for machinery and tubes to produce water containing the H- ion.
There are some competing products on the market which claim to be successful imitators of MegaH (aka MegaH-)™, and which claim to also contain "silica hydride" and the elusive H-minus ion, but this author and other researchers of his acquaintance have not seen any convincing evidence of silica hydride in any of these competing products yet tested. interestingly, non has been willing to subject their products to NMR analysis by an independent laboratory to qualify and quantify the presence of the hydride ion. It appears that getting silica to hold the hydride ion in a stable form for later release when exposed to water is an extremely delicate and tricky task, and it appears that no one other than Patrick Flanagan has yet mastered this technique. It is rather widely known in the world of clustered water research that researchers in Japan and other countries are rather desperately trying to find ways of storing the negative hydrogen ion in silica or other substances in order to make it bioavailable, if only for the tremendous financial incentive inherent in being able to market such a product to health-minded consumers.
The H-minus Ion in Electrolyzed Reduced Water
Why
Does So-Called Alkaline Ionized Water Seem to Improve Health?
and
Why Does So-Called Acidic Ionized Water Act As a Disinfectant?
The manufacturers and vendors of most brands of water ionizers claim that the so-called "alkaline ionized water", or "alkaline water" from their water ionizers improves health in a number of ways, and most of them attribute this benefit rather vaguely to the alkalinity of the water and it's supposed effects in "alkalinizing" the body. Some vendors go even further and claim that the alkaline water will provide abundant quantities of calcium and other "alkalinizing" minerals for the body. Finally, a rare few sources claim that the beneficial bio-effects of this water are really due to the presence of the negative hydrogen ion.
Likewise, many of the same vendors claim that the acid water from the ionizers has powerful disinfectant properties when used on skin, on plants and on surfaces to be cleaned, and most of them claim that this property is somehow due to the acidity of the water. What is the reality? Do alkaline water and acid water from ionizers really do what is claimed? If so, how do they achieve those effects? Click on the above on-site link to learn more!
Click here for a link to a page on this site containing further information on household and commercial water ionizers and their use for producing electrolyzed reduced water (ERW) for home consumption.
Click here for link to a page on this site which offers further notes on water ionizers (including filtration), and high strength electrolyzed reduced water. This informational article offers further notes on countertop water ionizers, filtration of water in the ionizers, and consumption of alkaline or reduced electrolyzed water, including consumption of ultra-strong electrolyzed reduced water with an ORP stronger than -550 mv., and, in some cases, with an ORP stronger than -800 mv.
For more information on using ORP as an imprecise correlate for reducing (antioxidant) activity, see the on-site page entitled: ORP and Some Myths About Reducing/Antioxidant Activity.
If you want to get even more in-depth information on ERW and making it, especially in home-brew devices, than this page offers, I recommend first finishing this page, and then going to the on-site page entitled Some Thoughts and Observations on Production of H-minus Ion Enriched-Water by Electrolysis.
Lastly, there are actually NUMEROUS other ways of creating H-minus ions in water, and without electricity/electrolysis, and often without the artificial corollary of high alkalinity as well. These methods yield water commonly referred to as "reduced water", or RW. However, many of these methods really cannot get the H-minus concentration to a place where the resultant ORP is much stronger than -300 mv. There are a few that can go much further. If you wish to know more about this topic, you may wish to check out my page on this site entitled Means and Methods of Modifying the ORP and Particularly, the Reducing Potential, of Water.
For
more
information on using ORP as an imprecise correlate for
reducing (antioxidant) activity, see the
on-site
page entitled: ORP
and Some Myths About Reducing/Antioxidant Activity.
Non-Electrolytic Means of Producing Reduced Water (RW)
Now, a teaser: there are actually NUMEROUS other ways of creating H-minus ions in water, and without electricity/electrolysis, and often without the artificial corollary of high alkalinity as well. These methods yield water commonly referred to as "reduced water", or RW. However, many of these methods really cannot get the H-minus concentration to a place where the resultant ORP is much stronger than -300 mv. There are a few that can go much further.
Mixed
Microbial Cultures
Containing Phototrophic Organisms
I
have
been able to take
tap water, add a bit of molasses and a bit of a powerful microbial
culture,
mix them all in a cheap flimsy plastic gallon jug (the type in which
spring
water is sold), and within 26 hours the water will show an ORP of about
-440, and, better yet (if you understand the implications of Nernst's
Equation),
at a pH of 4.3! Indeed, the same jugs can yield water with an
ORP
stronger than -470 at a pH of 4.3 within 48 hours of filling and
mixing.
Now, the reality is that this extremely powerful relative hydrogen
score
does not last for long -- the brew quickly evolves as the microbes
convert
most of the lighter-weight hydride antioxidants to more complex, higher
molecular weight biochemical antioxidants, all of which are in raw
live-food
form. This microbial inoculant culture I have been using has
been
proven by researchers to also produce a wide range of other powerful
nutrients
(for humans and animals) and antioxidants as well.
For a brief tutorial on the Relative Hydrogen Score, or rH score, please see the on-site page devoted to that topic! rH score is an absolute measure of hydrogen reducing power (and of oxidizing power) which is independent of changes in pH, and which is calculated from measures of ORP and pH.
Note: This section is evolving
and more material will appear as time passes!
Oxidation
Reduction Potential (ORP)
measured in millivolts (mv.) on a scale from -1,200 (most strongly
reducing)
to +1,200 (most strongly oxidizing). A reading at
or below
approximately zero (0) strongly, although indirectly, indicates an
increasing
concentration of the negative hydrogen ion. For example, a
reading
of -800 mv. would often indicate a strongly reducing solution, often
with
strong antioxidant properties, and could indicate the presence of large
amounts of H-minus ions in the solution. However, notice that
this
is a "sometimes" correlation which does not always hold true
in either
direction. Thus, a water solution of a compound with a
strongly negative
ORP may show no reducing and antioxidant activity, and a water solution
(of certain compounds dissolved in the water) with strong
antioxidant
(reducing) activity may show a modestly positive ORP.
Luckily, there
are many ancillary tests available to quickly determine whether strong
reducing
activity is also present.
For
more on this topic,
see the on-site
page entitled: ORP
and Some Myths About Reducing/Antioxidant Activity
Ion selective electrodes (ISE)
Antioxidant activity in vitro
Electron detachment due to laser photoexcitation
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) -- this is rapidly evolving as the simplest, most robust and reliable, and most sure-fire method of detecting the presence of any species of the hydride ion at any and all energy levels or storage levels (hydride ions can be configured in any of several ways in water, silica and other compounds, allowing differing and discrete energy levels.)
UV Spectrophotometry
ESR (Electron Spin Resonance), related to NMR, above
X-Ray
Diffraction (XRD) , while
it will not directly detect the H-minus ion, is often used to examine
the
structure of compounds which may act as functional hydrides to store
the
H-minus ion.
Despite
early beliefs
in the field
of inorganic chemistry that H- would be exceedingly rare and
exceedingly
short-lived at standard temperatures and pressures (room temperature
and
pressure, or STP), it appears that H- can exist quite stably, usually
in
a protective cage or cluster in water in all three of its most common
phases:
liquid, vapor and ice. When present in such a form, it
usually reduces
average cluster size of the short-lived clusters which form
in water,
and may also prolong cluster mean half-life as well, due to the
negative
charge carried by the H- ion. As we have seen above, H- can
also
form semi-permanent bonds with silica and other minerals in nature and
in the laboratory as well.
We
have
already established that H- is
often called the primal antioxidant or primeval antioxidant due to its
primitive structure, tiny size, tiny molecular weight, and the fact
that
it is able to be formed in purely physical or geological settings
(e.g.,
no life forms present). Was there a significant amount of H-
in the
primeval seas, or the so-called "primordial soup" in which life is
theorized
to have evolved on this planet? The answer is an almost
unequivoal
"yes". Due to the thinner atmosphere, absence of an ozone
layer,
and other charactersitics of the early atmosphere which would have
allowed
much higher incidence of cosmic rays, a more porous crust of the planet
allowing faster and more voluminous diffusion of H and H- from the
planet's
core to the surface, along with frequent volcanic activity and high
frequency
of lightning, it is likely that the primitive sea (primeval sea) or
primordial
soup exhibited a high concentration of the H- ion, making it the
intital
and primal antioxidant in that milieu as well.
Note: This section is
still being written and will be expanded as time passes!
Click here to go to the Links page for this site!
For some quick links, also see below:
From the viewpoint of living beings and their nutritional needs, the negative hydrogen ion is mainly found in nature as an antioxidant nutrient in raw, unprocessed foods and in unprocessed water from certain wild sources. The RawPaleoDiet website, at http://rawpaleodiet.vpinf.com, is an educational site on the Raw Paleolithic Diet, a diet high in this primal antioxidant nutrient. The site covers all aspects of raw foods diets which include raw animal foods, and includes a comprehensive overview of over 40 systems and books which promote such diets. Includes a comparison of the most popular systems.
Consortia of beneficial syntropic antioxidative microbes (SAM), and particularly SAM Type 4 consortia were mentioned several times on this site. Beneficial microbial consortia of this type are used worldwide and have found uses in a number of different fields and areas of human endeavors. It is likely safe to say that the single largest areas of utility of these SAM Type 4 microbial consortia are in agriculture (and even moreso within the realms of organic farming and sustainable farming), bioremediation of soil and water, waste management and odor control. To learn more about syntropic antioxidative microbial consortia in the SAM Type 4 category, please feel free to visit http://sam.vmicrobial.info/index.html#samtype4.
For some highly effective tools and techniques for opening the heart, becoming more free, creating the life you want, and reaching greater spiritual freedom, please check out my HeartRelease website, at http://www.heartrelease.com.
The
Divine-Heart
website, at http://www.divine-heart.org, shares information
about the
heart-centered spiritual healing work of Vinny Pinto, the author of
this
site. This healing work involves no contact (called
"non-contact"
or nonlocal) and is often done remotely. It may seem odd that
Vinny,
who has trained as a scientist and researcher (and also as an
electronics
engineer and astrophysicist), and who is also a raw foods
educator,
would also offer spiritual healing, but he also has a very strong
training
background in meditative disciplines, spiritual pursuits, acupuncture
and
energy healing. However, he now offers non-contact
(remote)
spiritual healing, and feels that it is this work (even more than his
research
work or raw foods educational work) which most "makes his heart sing".
To
learn more about Vinny, his informational
websites and the various
services which he offers, please feel free to check out the Vinny Pinto
Home Base (Directory) website, at http://www.vinnypinto.us
Commercially-available
SAM Type 4-Fermented Antioxidant
Nutritional Supplements for Humans There are now several fermented antioxidant nutritional supplement products (mostly liquid brews/beverages) brewed with SAM Type 4 microbial consortia available on the market, across the Western world, including the USA. To learn more about such brews and vendors/producers, please see my syntropic antioxidative microbes (SAM) website. |
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