In recent years, hydrogen therapy salons and experience stores branding themselves as "hydrogen-therapy wellness" have mushroomed across the country. Vendors claim hydrogen inhalation "cures all diseases" — from dizziness and insomnia, digestive discomfort, to high blood sugar, hypertension, arthritis, and even cancer, as if one breath of hydrogen could clear the illness away. 
Behind this chaos, unscrupulous vendors exploit the health anxiety of the elderly, packaging ordinary electronics with no medical qualification as "miracle cures" for huge profits. So does hydrogen inhalation actually have a scientific basis? What, truly, is hydrogen-oxygen medicine?
Real Science: Hydrogen-Oxygen Medicine Is Not a Scam but a Rigorous Emerging Field of Medicine
Hydrogen-oxygen medicine is not a commercial marketing concept but an emerging medical field validated by extensive scientific research. Its core mechanism lies in the selective antioxidant property of hydrogen molecules.
As early as 2007, the research team of Japanese scientist Professor Shigeo Ohta published a paper in Nature Medicine, proposing for the first time that hydrogen has a "selective antioxidant" effect that can markedly improve cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury in animals, drawing worldwide attention from the medical community.
In recent years, China's research and clinical translation in hydrogen-oxygen medicine have advanced steadily with notable results. In 2024, People's Daily Health Client held a dedicated symposium led by Academician Zhong Nanshan to discuss standardized application of hydrogen-oxygen; in 2025, the country's first Class A tertiary hydrogen-oxygen medicine outpatient clinic officially opened, and leading Class A tertiary hospitals including Peking University Cancer Hospital and the Chinese PLA General Hospital have set up hydrogen-oxygen medicine research centers. In addition, applications of hydrogen-oxygen inhalation in pain relief, sleep-disordered breathing, the perioperative period of total hip replacement in the elderly, and pneumoconiosis-related breathing impairment were listed by the Shandong Provincial Health Commission between 2022 and 2024 as appropriate new health technologies for promotion.
Hard Standard for Choosing a Medical-Grade Hydrogen-Oxygen Machine: Class III Medical Device
After hydrogen molecules are inhaled through the respiratory tract into the alveoli, this is a high-risk invasive treatment falling under Class III medical device management. Class III medical devices are the highest regulatory category, with extremely strict review: they must pass more than 400 product tests, complete cellular, animal, single-center, and multi-center human clinical trials, and satisfy all material biocompatibility and toxicology requirements before approval for market release.
Many uncertified hydrogen-oxygen machines on the market use industrial hydrogen-generation technology (such as solid conduction or liquid conduction), which cannot guarantee gas purity, may produce toxic impurities, and even carries explosion risk. Therefore, the first threshold when choosing a hydrogen-oxygen machine is verifying whether it holds a national Class III medical device registration certificate.
How to Check and Avoid Pitfalls?
Consumers can visit the National Medical Products Administration official website (http://www.nmpa.gov.cn), search for "hydrogen-oxygen" in the "Medical Device Query" section. To date, only two compliant products hold formal registration certificate numbers:
国械注准20203080066 (models: AMS-H-01, AMS-H-03, AMS-TA-01)
国械注准20233081929 (models: AMS-TA-01/15B, AMS-TA-01/15C, AMS-H-03/30B, AMS-H-03/30C)
In short, hydrogen-oxygen inhalation does have multiple clinical actions such as antioxidant activity, anti-inflammation, neuroprotection, and improved respiratory function, but hydrogen-oxygen medicine is not a "universal wonder drug"; it is a scientifically rigorous adjunctive treatment. When choosing a hydrogen-oxygen machine, consumers must look for the Class III medical device registration certificate approved by the NMPA and must not trust ordinary products without medical qualifications.
