# Editorial: Recent knowledge on the applications of molecular hydrogen in plant physiology, crop production, and food processing

Duried Alwazeer, Longnan Li, Alexandros Ch. Stratakos, Tyler Lebaron, John

T Hancock, Yves Waché

► To cite this version:

Duried Alwazeer, Longnan Li, Alexandros Ch. Stratakos, Tyler Lebaron, John T Hancock, et al.. Editorial: Recent knowledge on the applications of molecular hydrogen in plant physiology, crop production, and food processing. Frontiers in Food Science and Technology, 2024, 4, pp.1-3. 10.3389/frfst.2024.1501046. hal-05005107

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OPEN ACCESS

EDITED AND REVIEWED BY
Tatiana Koutchma,
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC),
Canada

*CORRESPONDENCE
John T. Hancock,
john.hancock@uwe.ac.uk

RECEIVED 24 September 2024

ACCEPTED 30 September 2024

PUBLISHED 11 October 2024

CITATION
Alwazeer D, Li L, Stratakos AC, LeBaron TW, Hancock JT and Waché Y (2024) Editorial: Recent knowledge on the applications of molecular hydrogen in plant physiology, crop production, and food processing.
*Front. Food. Sci. Technol.* 4:1501046.
doi: 10.3389/frfst.2024.1501046

COPYRIGHT
© 2024 Alwazeer, Li, Stratakos, LeBaron, Hancock and Waché. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

# Editorial: Recent knowledge on the applications of molecular hydrogen in plant physiology, crop production, and food processing

Duried Alwazeer<fnref n="1" />, Longna Li<fnref n="2" />, Alexandros Ch. Stratakos<fnref n="3" />, Tyler W. LeBaron<fnref n="4" />,⁵, John T. Hancock<fnref n="3" />* and Yves Waché⁶

KEYWORDS

crops, food processing, hydrogen-rich water, molecular hydrogen, plant growth, post harvest, food security, sustainable technology

## Editorial on the Research Topic

Recent knowledge on the applications of molecular hydrogen in plant physiology, crop production, and food processing

Molecular hydrogen ($H_2$) was first produced in the early 16th century, and hydrogen was formally identified as an element by Cavendish in 1766. The effects of $H_2$ on biological systems were relatively quickly studied by several people including Priestley, Lavoisier, Cavallo and Davy (Hancock and LeBaron, 2023). Although such research has been sporadic over the last two hundred years (LeBaron et al., 2023), there is now a growing realisation that treatment with hydrogen gas can have significant beneficial effects. This is particularly true in the biomedical arena where it has been mooted as a therapy for a range of medical conditions (Ohta, 2014; Ge et al., 2017), including cancer (Noor et al., 2023) and neurological disorders (Ramanathan et al., 2023). Of relevance here, such work shows that $H_2$ is not toxic and well tolerated by humans.

The action of $H_2$ in cells involves the reduction of reactive compounds such as hydroxyl radicals (Ohsawa et al., 2007) and an increase in antioxidant capacity, both of which lead to reduced oxidative stress (LeBaron et al., 2019), as well as other potential mechanisms (Hancock et al., 2022). Therefore, it is not surprising that similar mechanisms take place in plant cells. $H_2$ has been shown to have favourable effects on seed germination (Xu et al., 2013), plant growth (Wu et al., 2020) and stress tolerance, such as drought (Islam et al., 2023). $H_2$ can also be used to prolong the vase life of flowers (Ren et al., 2017) and for postharvest storage of fruits (Hu et al., 2014; Alwazeer and Özkan, 2022) and vegetables (Ali et al., 2023). Many of the studies using $H_2$ treatments on plants focus on growth under stress conditions, which in many ways parallels findings observed in animals. Therefore, a

<footnote n="1">¹Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Iğdır University, Iğdır, Türkiye,</footnote>

<footnote n="2">²Laboratory Center of Life Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China,</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³School of Applied Sciences, University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom,</footnote>

<footnote n="4">⁴Department of Kinesiology and Outdoor Recreation, Southern Utah University, Cedar City, UT, United States,
⁵Molecular Hydrogen Institute, Enoch, UT, United States,
⁶International Joint Laboratory of Tropical Bioresources and Biotechnology, School of Biotechnology and Food Technology and Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Institut Agro Dijon, University Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France</footnote>
Research Topic exploring the potential benefits of H₂ in plant and food science is both timely and relevant.

This Research Topic attracted four articles. One of the issues when researchers are reporting their data is that they do not measure H₂ concentrations in solution. This is important if standardised methodologies for treatment of plants and plant/food materials are ever going to be developed and adopted. One method which is sometimes used to estimate H₂ concentrations is to measure the oxidation reduction potential (ORP) and using this to estimate the H₂ concentration with the Nernst equation. The first paper in the SI by LeBaron and Sharpe demonstrated through in silico analysis that ORP is unreliable to estimate or compare H₂ concentrations in aqueous solutions. The study suggested that more accurate methods should be employed, as small deviations in pH, temperature, and normal ORP fluctuations can significantly affect the predicted H₂ concentrations, often exceeding the range used in most studies.

In an original research article, Dong et al. looked at the traditional Chinese herb *Gastrodia elata*, which is used for a range of remedies, including headaches, convulsions and epilepsy (Wu et al., 2023). Their focus was on the effects of hydrogen-rich water (HRW) on the herb that had been freshly cut and was in 4°C storage. It was found that HRW decreased weight loss of material, and reduced the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), whilst increasing antioxidant activity. The lowering of activities of key metabolic enzymes such as cytochrome oxidase, succinate dehydrogenase and H⁺-ATPase was also noted. Overall, the use of HRW was beneficial during the storage of this herb.

Alwazeer et al. looked at the use of H₂ in the extraction of phytochemicals from plant materials. They infused H₂ into various solvents (water, ethanol, methanol) before their use in extraction from lemon peels. Compounds such as phenolics, flavonoids, and anthocyanins were extracted using solvents with and without H₂. The addition of H₂ into all the solvents significantly improved the extraction of all phytochemical groups studied with the highest levels found for H₂-rich methanol. It was therefore concluded that addition of H₂ to such processes was worth considering, which is supported by similar studies (for example, Ceylan et al., 2023; Alwazeer et al., 2023a; Alwazeer et al., 2023b; Alwazeer and Elnasanelkasim, 2023; Alwazeer et al., 2023c).

Finally, a paper by Alwazeer et al. featuring several members of the editorial team, provides a comprehensive review of the Research Topic's focus. This review covers the application of H₂ in agricultural practices, food safety, processing and packaging, and the valorisation of food waste. It further explores the bioactivity of H₂, along with the regulations, toxicity, and safety considerations associated with its use. The review concludes with a section on the current status of research and future perspectives for the use of H₂ in plant growth, food science, and production practices. It is hoped that this will inspire further research endeavours in this area.

Considering the final paper in the SI, it is evident that this topic has a bright future. The application of H₂ to plants at a variety of stages is relatively easy and cheap. Often treatments involving the

creation of a HRW which can be used as a watering medium or sprayed onto plant materials, as well as a washing material for treating various foods. In enclosed spaces, H₂ can be used directly as a gas, and both methods leave no toxic byproducts. H₂ has been used safely in deep sea diving for approximately 80 years (Bjurstedt and Severin, 1948). As H₂ gas becomes used more, for example, in transport (Singh et al., 2015), it is expected to become cheaper and more accessible, enhancing its cost-benefit profile. The potential applications of H₂ across various plant developmental stages and stress conditions offer significant promise for improving food security, plant physiology, crop yields, and food storage and processing.

## Author contributions

DA: Writing-original draft, Writing-review and editing. LL: Writing-original draft, Writing-review and editing. AS: Writing-original draft, Writing-review and editing. TL: Writing-original draft, Writing-review and editing. JH: Writing-original draft, Writing-review and editing. YW: Writing-original draft, Writing-review and editing.

## Funding

The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

## Acknowledgments

JH and AS would like to thank UWE, Bristol for support.

## Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.

## Publisher's note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
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Alwazeer, D., and Elnasanelkasim, M. A. (2023). Hydrogen-rich water as a green solvent for the extraction of phytochemicals from agri-food wastes. *Sustain. Chem. Pharm.* 33, 101035. doi:10.1016/j.scp.2023.101035

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