Part 7 Hormesis – Molecular Hydrogen
June 25, 2019More Than Just A Stimulant
July 2, 2019Drink HRW at the NHL Players Awards “Gifting Suite”
Another step towards becoming mainstream
I’ve quoted that hydrogen therapy, and hydrogen water, is a rare instance where science is moving faster than industry. I want to clarify this quote, as, by nature, science always has to discover something first. In industry, especially the supplement industry, quite often the very first poorly done in vitro or rodent study on a natural molecule showing some promise leads to immediate attempts to commercialize, mentions in the press, and unwarranted hype.
With hydrogen therapy and hydrogen water, this happened in Asia. In fact, as I mentioned in the “Comparing Hydrogen Water and Gas Technologies” article, the Japanese Government has already come down on Industry, finding 17 of 19 companies marketing hydrogen water did not have a dose that would be reasonably expected for any therapeutic potential. As I discussed in my “100 voices” article, one of the key reasons I decided to provide product for other brands to “private label” was to help guide claims and educate on the science to avoid some of the preposterous and catastrophic marketing that curtailed research efforts in Japan and Korea.
In North America, many early adopters tried to push hydrogen water as early as 11 years ago. It never “went”, despite growing research. This was likely due to a combination of products that were not efficacious, confusing marketing that failed to clearly demonstrate the benefits, and attachment to other claims that made no scientific sense. Also, the experience and business acumen of some early adopters may have been lacking, with absolutely bizarre decision-making. I detail some of this, only regarding early attempts on hydrogen tablets, in my series set to begin sometime this summer “Hydrogen Tablet’s Origins”.
One of the big misconceptions and challenges regarding hydrogen water is many associate it with bogus “magic water” claims, and by many, I would estimate the majority of the population. As a secondary issue, the nature of hydrogen therapy means that many marketers make it out to be a “panacea”, which of course it is not. I discuss this in my talks with Tyler LeBaron here, Dr. Holland here, and Prof. Ostojic here. In fact, the title of the one article on our company featured in Nutra Ingredients USA had the phrase “seeks to distance himself from magic waters”.
This skepticism resulted in a very low success rate in my reaching out to researchers and science-based health influencers, in terms of overall emails sent. While many would be shocked and/or confused by this, as our ability to get numerous public teams interested in clinically studying our product in a short time is almost unheard of, the sheer volume of contacts I attempted to make was even more unheard of.
Many may be thinking “why is mainstream acceptance important if not for increased money and greed?” Skeptics reading this may even think “it shouldn’t become mainstream until there is more evidence”. I discuss in my “Open Letter: Testimonials” article the need for something to become popular in order to take off in research. It goes back to the fallacy that “if no one is talking about it, it must be irrelevant” (and the reverse fallacy “so many people believe this, so it must be true). Popularity creates more popularity. In fact, many “stars” are famous simply for being famous. Along this same pattern, researchers will take note and become interested in a topic only once they have been made aware of it and given reasoning to pursue it, and the more teams studying something, the more will become interested in studying it. There are sham therapies with literally over 10,000 publications showing overwhelmingly no benefit that continue to get grants and be studied simply due to public popularity. As is apparent to anyone who deals with me or has followed mine and my company’s trajectory, I want to know how hydrogen water works, why it works, and when we should use it. This is why I donate products and funds for testing additional biomarkers to teams under no publication agreement. It’s imperative for proper, true, and unbiased science. The more popular hydrogen water becomes, the more teams will become interested, the more funds I will have to donate, and the faster our knowledge will grow. Of course, I stand to gain along the way, which is another important reason that I allow researchers to study what they want, under no publication restrictions. I am biased and my interests are conflicted. That does not mean I cannot contribute towards the truth.
Some Mainstream Movement: NHL Awards
Just recently, we at Drink HRW have started getting early movement in the quest to become mainstream. As any of you following us on Instagram or Facebook know; and if you aren’t, we are on social media so please do, we were invited to talk to players about Rejuvenation hydrogen tablets, give samples, and attend and network at the NHL players awards “Gifting Suite” hosted by The Fourth Period Magazine. It was a great experience for several of us who attended, and overall the players, families, and trainers to who we spoke were very receptive.
Success is often a combination of hard work, blind luck, and knowing when to capitalize on the lucky breaks that happen. While I have worked hard at building the framework of the industry, often in excess of 100 hours a week, spent $1.5m USD on framework-related expenses alone, and had a multi-year extensive plan of action, I would not be here today without numerous lucky breaks. Getting this opportunity was a lucky break.
As mentioned, I emailed countless researchers and mainstream science-based health influencers, to very little response. I also attempted to reach out to various trainers, athletes, etc., and received even fewer interactions. I suspect none, or almost none, of my emails, were ever even opened or read. A chance encounter and casual, friendly conversation following a tradeshow led to this break. With guards down and receptive ears, the work I was doing and the clinical validation we had for our product, on top of the body of research on hydrogen water itself was able to sink in. The implications could be fully assessed, and the opportunity to attend was offered soon after. This is a reason I call out skeptics for dialogue every chance I get. I want to talk as I understand the research, its implications, and limitations. I understand my technology and its potential. I am confident I will (mostly) change the minds of those I debate with, those open to listening, and am prepared to change my position if a party I am engaging provides a legitimate argument which I have no answer to; or to at least spend time diving into the question, or statement, to better understand it.
Sometimes it is nice to speak to those eager to learn and listen. Before I attended I was excited, and after the experience fully sunk in I remain honored to have been given the opportunity to talk Drink HRW and hydrogen water with many of the athletes nominated for the NHL awards as well as their trainers and families this past week in Las Vegas.
Hydrogen water is an overall health supplement first, and a sports supplement second. That said, the benefits for athletes are incredible, putting it in the top tier of legal performance and recovery aids.
On top of our two publications on athletic performance, we are very excited to announce two more publications going through a review that will further solidify our Rejuvenation as an absolute necessity for professional and amateur athletes alike. This may have been our “first taste”, but given the trajectory and evidence we are amassing, I would be stunned if it is our last.
Nick Foligno of the Columbus Blue Jackets, super friendly guy who spent a good amount of time talking hydrogen water with us. Nick and his wife have dedicated significant amounts of time and resources to humanitarian work.
Vezina Trophy winner Andriy Vasilevskiy with a glass of Rejuvenation in his hand. Congratulations on an amazing season and thanks for stopping by to talk hydrogen water!
Vezina Trophy winner Andriy Vasilevskiy with his gift bag of Rejuvenation in his hand. Congratulations on an amazing season and thanks for stopping by to talk hydrogen water!
Jason Zucker of the Minnesota Wild came by to talk hydrogen water and was an incredibly nice guy that came off as completely genuine. Absolutely no surprise he won the King Clancy Award for his humanitarian work with children.
Congratulations to Elias Pettersson of the Vancouver Canucks on winning the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year! Thanks for coming by and discussing H2. For all you Canuck fans, Elias was a super friendly guy that says he absolutely loves living in Vancouver.
It would be hard to find a friendlier guy than the legend Joe Thornton of the San Jose Sharks
Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning stopping by to talk hydrogen water. Congratulations on a phenomenal regular season!
Mark Stone stopping by to talk about Rejuvenation and hydrogen water. Greatly appreciate Mark going out of his way to come to visit everyone. As a Las Vegas Knight, he lives in town and was not staying at the hotel with the other players, so he took an extra effort to make it down. Congratulations on a fantastic season.
Ryan O’Reilly of the St Louis Blues and his family stopped by to talk hydrogen water. Great bunch of people who couldn’t have been any friendlier. Congratulations on a great season, a Stanley Cup, and for winning the Frank J. Selke award!