Hydrogen is the most abundant atom in the human body, comprising about 63% of total atoms. It’s no surprise then that having the “right kind” of hydrogen in your body is important for avoiding chronic disease.
Hydrogen comes in two primary forms: “regular size” (with atomic weight of one) and “supersized” (with atomic weight of two). [There’s a third radioactive form with atomic weight of three, but it is very rare.]
This supersized form is called deuterium, and it’s the topic of this blog post! In nature, the ratio of deuterium to regular hydrogen (called protium) is 1/6600.
Deuterium has an extra neutron that protium doesn’t have. That’s important because deuterium is double the mass of protium, so it’s like the sluggish, lazy older brother of protium.
You might say: “But every atom on the periodic table has different isotopes.” Hydrogen is special though, because it’s only case where its heavier isotope is actually DOUBLE the weight.
Doubling the weight of an atom completely changes how it behaves in chemical reactions - this is called the kinetic isotope effect (KIE). Deuterium is the king of KIEs, and substituting protium for deuterium leads to a massive slow down in the rates of some biochemical reactions.
If that wasn’t bad enough, deuterium also
messes up the synthesis of our cellular energy: ATP. Basically, deuterium gums up the tiny motors that make ATP. More precisely, it causes “stutters” in the ATP synthase pumps, leading to reduced ATP and mitochondrial dysfunction.
The picture below shows this ATP synthesis process, which relies on the flow of hydrogen ions. So you can imagine that having a heavy, sluggish version of hydrogen might mess this process up.