How do you test hydrogen water, and how do you know the number you got is the right one? The answers are simpler than most sales pages make them sound. It comes down to three things: the method, the unit, and who ran the test.
John, an 82-year-old owner in Washington, described the problem every buyer faces. He read ratings and listened to what other owners said, then admitted, “I really had no other way of determining whether it was a good machine or not, but it turned out it was.” A measured result with a named method gives every buyer a way to check, and nobody has to rely on luck.
Slavomila, an owner in Austria, took the opposite route. What she wanted was “the accurate information, the original source,” and she read the science pages herself before she chose. Measurement is where that instinct pays off, because a number only means something once you know which instrument produced it, which unit it was reported in, and whether an independent lab stood behind it, so this guide covers the laboratory method, the everyday meter, and the one reading that is not a hydrogen reading at all.
How to Test Hydrogen Water: Two Quantities, Two Questions
Two different numbers hide behind the phrase “hydrogen level.” Gas output, in mL/min, describes how much hydrogen a machine produces. Dissolved hydrogen, in ppm or ppb, describes how much is in the glass in front of you. They answer separate questions, and a test for one says nothing about the other. Our guide to PPM, PPB, and ORP explains the units; this article explains the methods. If you are still weighing the claims themselves, start with what the evidence actually says.
Method matters because hydrogen is a light, slippery gas. Johnsen et al. (2023) reviewed 81 clinical trials and 64 publications on human studies in Molecules and described low solubility among the practical challenges of getting hydrogen into a usable form. Low solubility is a reason to measure properly. A number taken with a sound method tells you what is in the water at that moment, and a number without a method tells you nothing.
Gas Chromatography: The Gold Standard for Dissolved Hydrogen
How a gas chromatograph reads a water sample
A gas chromatograph separates the gases in a sample, and a detector then reports how much of each one is present. For dissolved hydrogen, a lab takes a water sample, brings the dissolved gas into the instrument, and reads hydrogen as a concentration against a calibration standard. Independent testing laboratories and research groups use it when the number has to hold up.
Why research groups default to it
Li et al. (2025) surveyed detection methods in Advanced Science and reported that gas chromatography became the mainstream way to measure hydrogen in solutions and blood because of its high precision and accuracy. They also noted that the first seminal paper on hydrogen biology, published in 2007, relied on it. The same review observed that the instrument is bulky and costly, which explains why it lives in laboratories rather than kitchens and why a lab report that names it carries so much weight. Precision is the whole point.
That is the “original source” Slavomila was after. Her habit was to trust documentation over description, and a gas chromatography result is documentation in its purest form (a named lab, a dated report, a number with a unit).
Dissolved Hydrogen Meters for Everyday Checks
Outside a laboratory, the practical tool is a dissolved hydrogen meter built on an electrochemical sensor. Matsuura et al. (2013) described a coulometric sensor in the Journal of Environmental Sciences that completed a dissolved hydrogen measurement in about 10 seconds and showed a linear relationship between electrical charge and hydrogen concentration. In a separate engineering study in the International Journal of Artificial Organs, Mouzakis et al. (2022) tested a contactless dissolved-hydrogen sensor against an established oxygen sensor and reported a linear relationship between the hydrogen applied in a gas mixture and the concentration at equilibrium.
Laboratory-grade instruments such as DKK-TOA dissolved hydrogen meters and HORIBA infrared gas analyzers sit at the top of the range, and electrochemical meters such as the Trustlex ENH-1000 bring the same sensor idea to everyday use. Researchers rely on the same sensor family on the biology side: Nedeljkovic et al. (2026) tracked blood hydrogen in 12 healthy adults after they drank hydrogen-rich water, using a Clark-type microsensor, and reported a peak near 43 minutes and an elimination half-life of roughly 145 minutes.
Why an ORP reading is a different number
An ORP meter reports oxidation-reduction potential in millivolts. That is a different quantity from dissolved hydrogen. LeBaron et al. (2022), reviewing electrolyzed-reduced water in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, encouraged users to measure hydrogen concentration with accurate methods and to avoid ORP-based hydrogen meters. So the rule is easy: a hydrogen meter reads hydrogen. Not a proxy.
John’s own setup involved no measuring of any kind. “I just plugged it in, basically, and put some water in the filter... And then put water in the pitcher and turned it on,” he said. Laboratory methods and meters exist so that the verification can happen once, at the source, with a named instrument and a stated unit, which leaves the owner free to get on with filling a glass instead of running tests of their own.
How the Lourdes Hydrofix Numbers Were Measured
Given these measurement standards, here’s how the Lourdes Hydrofix Premium Edition documents its numbers. Masa International, an independent testing lab and not the maker of the machine, measured hydrogen gas output under test number MM03-6024-01 and reported 134.2 mL/min under its test conditions. We advertise approximately 120 mL/min, depending on usage conditions, because a conservative figure is easier to stand behind; the independent source for both numbers is certificate MM03-6024-01.
You can find the Lourdes Hydrofix in our hydrogen water machine collection.
Output tells you how much hydrogen a machine makes, and the purity report tells you what else is in the water. Concentration matters. Purity matters at least as much. JFRL 23028707001-0201, from Japan Food Research Laboratories, reports that selected plasticizers, BPA, iron, and titanium were not detected under test conditions, and certificate 17-MANS-0078-B documents TP270C titanium at 99.928% purity for the electrodes. Each document is listed on our certifications page with a reference number, and our guides to the purity test and to machine certification take them one at a time.
Every unit is also tested for hydrogen concentration before it leaves the factory and ships with its own certificate of authenticity, so the measuring is finished before the machine reaches your counter. The design pairs separate-chamber (dual-chamber) electrolysis with a multi-layer fibriform polymer membrane. Fill it, run it, drink it.
John, four or five years in, summed up the experience in one line: “It’s like drinking a glass of water.” Slavomila’s advice to anyone still researching was just as plain: “The truth tends to be simple. When we do things the accurate way, then they are easy and simple.” Measurement done properly ends up the same way, with a named method, a clear unit, and nothing left for you to work out.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most accurate way to test dissolved hydrogen in water? Gas chromatography is the gold standard. Li et al. (2025) reported that it became the mainstream method for hydrogen in solutions because of its high precision and accuracy, and independent labs use it for exactly that reason.
Does an owner need to test the water at home? No. Each Lourdes Hydrofix is tested for hydrogen concentration before it ships and arrives with its own certificate of authenticity. John described his own setup as plugging it in, adding water, and turning it on.
Where can I check the original certificates? They are on our certifications page, and each reference number in this article matches the one printed on the document. Slavomila went looking for exactly that kind of original source before she bought.
Further Reading
To browse on your own, try PubMed’s results for dissolved hydrogen measurement.
- Li et al. (2025), Advanced Science. PMID: 40619605. A review that lines up the main ways hydrogen is detected, from laboratory chromatography to portable electrode sensors, all in one place.
- Johnsen et al. (2023), Molecules. PMID: 38067515. A broad review of 81 clinical trials that shows how hydrogen is delivered and why its low solubility shapes so much of the field.
- LeBaron, Sharpe & Ohno (2022), International Journal of Molecular Sciences. PMID: 36498838. A review that urges direct hydrogen measurement and steers readers away from ORP-based meters.
- Ichihara et al. (2015), Medical Gas Research. PMID: 26483953. A review of 321 original articles that shows hydrogen water and hydrogen gas as the two main forms researchers have used.
- Matsuura et al. (2013), Journal of Environmental Sciences. PMID: 24191595. A sensor study in which a dissolved hydrogen reading finished in about ten seconds with a straight-line response.
- Mouzakis et al. (2022), International Journal of Artificial Organs. PMID: 35075943. An engineering check of a contactless hydrogen sensor against a trusted oxygen sensor.
- Nedeljkovic et al. (2026), Current Reviews in Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology. PMID: 42865187. A small pilot that followed blood hydrogen for two hours after a glass of hydrogen-rich water, using a microsensor.
References
- Johnsen, H. M., Hiorth, M., & Klaveness, J. (2023). Molecular hydrogen therapy—a review on clinical studies and outcomes. Molecules, 28(23), 7785. PMID: 38067515. DOI: 10.3390/molecules28237785.
- Li, G., Cui, H., Fan, R., Liu, G., Hou, Z., Zhang, Y., Che, X., Wang, T., Wei, H., & Li, P. (2025). Delivery of molecular hydrogen for precision immunomodulation: Mechanisms, detection methods, and applications. Advanced Science, 12(32), e00283. PMID: 40619605. DOI: 10.1002/advs.202500283.
- LeBaron, T. W., Sharpe, R., & Ohno, K. (2022). Electrolyzed-reduced water: Review II: Safety concerns and effectiveness as a source of hydrogen water. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 23(23), 14508. PMID: 36498838. DOI: 10.3390/ijms232314508.
- Matsuura, H., Yamawaki, Y., Sasaki, K., & Uchiyama, S. (2013). Coulometric determination of dissolved hydrogen with a multielectrolytic modified carbon felt electrode-based sensor. Journal of Environmental Sciences (China), 25(6), 1077–1082. PMID: 24191595. DOI: 10.1016/s1001-0742(12)60130-2.
- Mouzakis, F. L., Khadka, L. B., Pereira da Silva, M., & Mottaghy, K. (2022). Quantification of dissolved H2 and continuous monitoring of hydrogen-rich water for haemodialysis applications: An experimental study. The International Journal of Artificial Organs, 45(3), 254–261. PMID: 35075943. DOI: 10.1177/03913988211070588.
- Nedeljkovic, D., Todorovic, N., Javorac, D., Andjelic, B., Vranes, M., & Ostojic, S. M. (2026). Post-ingestion blood hydrogen kinetics following oral hydrogen-rich water intake in healthy adults: A pilot pharmacokinetic study. Current Reviews in Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology. Advance online publication. PMID: 42865187. DOI: 10.2174/0127724328507426261006065812.
FDA disclaimer: Holy Hydrogen products, including the Lourdes Hydrofix Premium Edition, are not medical devices and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. All information on this site is provided for educational and general wellness purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before beginning any new wellness practice, especially if you have a medical condition, are pregnant or nursing, or take prescription medications.