Deuterium-depleted water

Deuterium-depleted water (DDW) is water that has a lower concentration of deuterium than occurs naturally at sea level on Earth. Natural water typically contains approximately 150 parts per million of deuterium, while DDW refers to water with deuterium concentrations below that level.[1]

DDW has also been described in scientific literature as “light water” or “protium water,” although “light water” is also used in nuclear engineering to refer to ordinary water used in light-water reactors.[2][3]

Chemistry

Deuterium-depleted water has less deuterium (2H) than occurs in nature at sea level.[2] Deuterium is a naturally occurring, stable (non-radioactive) isotope of hydrogen with a nucleus consisting of one proton and one neutron. A nucleus of normal hydrogen (protium, 1H) consists of one proton only, and no neutron. Deuterium therefore has about twice the atomic mass as 1H.[4] Heavy water molecules contain two deuteriums instead of two 1H atoms.[5] Deuterium has an amount fraction of 0.00015574, or about 156 deuterium atoms per million hydrogen atoms.[6]

Production of heavy water involves isolating and removing deuterium-containing isotopologues within natural water. The by-product of this process is DDW.[7] DDW may be produced through isotope-separation processes that reduce the concentration of deuterium-containing water molecules, including distillation and catalytic-exchange methods.[8][9]

The isotopic composition of natural water varies by geography and climate. In general, precipitation and surface waters tend to become more depleted in deuterium with increasing distance from the ocean, increasing distance from the equator, and higher elevation. This variation is used in hydrology and isotope geochemistry to compare water samples against international reference standards.[10]

Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water (VSMOW) is an international reference standard that represents the isotopic composition of ocean water. In VSMOW, deuterium occurs at a concentration of 155.76 ppm.[11] Standard Light Antarctic Precipitation (SLAP), a reference standard based on Antarctic precipitation, represents a more deuterium-depleted natural water standard, with a deuterium concentration of 89.02 ppm.[12]

Snow and glacial meltwater can have lower deuterium concentrations than seawater, reflecting isotopic variation associated with altitude, latitude, and hydrological conditions.[10] The weight quantities of isotopologues in natural water are calculated based on data collected using molecular spectroscopy.[13][14]

The following table compares the calculated mass content of water isotopologues in VSMOW and SLAP. It includes both oxygen-isotope variants and deuterium-bearing isotopologues, with the latter being most directly relevant to deuterium-depleted water.[13][14]

Isotopologue Molecular mass Content, g/kg
VSMOW SLAP
1H216O 18.01056470 997.032536356 997.317982662
1H2H16O 19.01684144 0.328000097 0.187668379
2H216O 20.02311819 0.000026900 0.000008804
1H217O 19.01478127 0.411509070 0.388988825
1H2H17O 20.02105801 0.000134998 0.000072993
2H217O 21.02733476 0.000000011 0.000000003
1H218O 20.01481037 2.227063738 2.104884332
1H2H18O 21.02108711 0.000728769 0.000393984
2H218O 22.02736386 0.000000059 0.000000018

In this comparison, VSMOW contains approximately 0.329 g/kg of deuterium-bearing isotopologues, compared with approximately 0.188 g/kg in SLAP.[13][14] This difference reflects the lower deuterium content of SLAP relative to the ocean-water standard.[11][12] Most of the total mass of heavy isotopologues shown in the table comes from ¹H₂¹⁸O, a water molecule containing light hydrogen and oxygen-18, rather than from deuterium-bearing water molecules.[13][14]

Biological properties of the deuterium content in water

Early biological research found that heavy water could inhibit growth in experimental systems.[15] Later DDW research has examined cellular, animal, metabolic, and cancer-related models, but much of the evidence remains preclinical or heterogeneous.[16][17]

A 2024 scoping review described nutritional deuterium depletion as an emerging research area involving DDW, diet, metabolism, and health, while noting that additional randomized controlled trials are needed.[1]

Production methods

Deuterium-depleted water can be produced in laboratory and industrial settings. Reported production methods include electrolysis,[8] low-temperature vacuum rectification,[7][18] seawater desalination,[19] Girdler sulfide process,[20] and catalytic exchange.[9]

Commercial production

Commercially produced deuterium-depleted water is sold as bottled water and as concentrated products for dilution. Some market reports identify Litewater Scientific, Preventa, and Qlarivia, and among companies active in the DDW market.[21][22]

Health claims and criticism

In 2020, Harriet Hall wrote in Skeptical Inquirer that most DDW studies she reviewed were preclinical and that the limited human studies available at the time did not establish human efficacy.[23] More recent reviews have summarized DDW research in cellular, animal, metabolic, and cancer-related models, while noting limitations in study design and the need for stronger clinical evidence.[16][24]

DDW has been studied in relation to cancer, diabetes, metabolism, oxidative stress, and other biological processes.[1][16] However, much of the evidence remains preclinical or heterogeneous, and claims concerning disease treatment should not be presented as established medical consensus.[24] For example, one preclinical study reported DDW-related effects on GLUT4 translocation and blood-glucose concentration in diabetic rats.[25]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Korchinsky, Nicole; Davis, Anne M.; Boros, László G. (2024-10-13). "Nutritional deuterium depletion and health: a scoping review". Metabolomics. 20 (6): 117. doi:10.1007/s11306-024-02173-4. ISSN 1573-3890. PMC 11471703. PMID 39397213.
  2. 1 2 Goncharuk, Vladyslav V; Kavitskaya, Alina A; Romanyukina, Iryna Yu; Loboda, Oleksandr A (17 June 2013). "Revealing water's secrets: deuterium depleted water". Chemistry Central Journal. 7 (1): 103. doi:10.1186/1752-153X-7-103. PMC 3703265. PMID 23773696.
  3. ↑ "Light-water reactor | Nuclear Regulatory Commission". www.nrc.gov.
  4. ↑ "What is Deuterium?". www.iaea.org. 2023-01-13.
  5. ↑ "Molecule of the Week Archive Deuterium oxide". www.acs.org. 2018-10-15.
  6. ↑ "Atomic Weight of Hydrogen | Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights". www.ciaaw.org.
  7. 1 2 WO2006028400A1, Stefanescu, Ioan & Titescu, Gheorghe, "Process and installation for obtaining the deuterium depleted water", issued 2006-03-16
  8. 1 2 Kótai, László; Lippart, József; Gács, István; Kazinczy, Béla; Vidra, László (1999-06-01). "Plant-Scale Method for the Preparation of Deuterium-Depleted Water". Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research. 38 (6): 2425–2427. doi:10.1021/ie9807248. ISSN 0888-5885.
  9. 1 2 Huang, Feng; Meng, Changgong (2011-01-05). "Method for the Production of Deuterium-Depleted Potable Water". Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research. 50 (1): 378–381. doi:10.1021/ie101820f. ISSN 0888-5885.
  10. 1 2 Siegenthaler, U. (1979). Jäger, Emilie; Hunziker, Johannes C. (eds.). "Stable Hydrogen and Oxygen Isotopes in the Water Cycle". Lectures in Isotope Geology. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer: 264–273. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-67161-6_22. ISBN 978-3-642-67161-6.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link)
  11. 1 2 Reference and Intercomparison Materials for Stable Isotopes of Light Elements. IAEA. 1993. pp. 1–168.
  12. 1 2 "Reference Sheet for International Measurement Standards" (PDF). International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-07-29. Retrieved 2020-03-16.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Rothman, L.S.; Rinsland, C.P.; Goldman, A.; MASSIE, S.T.; Edwards, D.P.; Flaud, J-M.; Perrin, A.; Camy-Peyret, C.; Dana, V.; Mandin, J.-Y.; Schroeder, J.; McCann, A.; Gamache, R.R.; Wattson, R.B.; Yoshino, K.; Chance, K.V.; Jucks, K.W.; Brown, L.R.; Nemtchinov, V.; Varanasi, P. (November 1998). "The HITRAN Molecular Spectroscopic Database and Hawks (HITRAN Atmospheric Workstation): 1996 Edition". Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer. 60 (5): 665–710. Bibcode:1998JQSRT..60..665R. doi:10.1016/S0022-4073(98)00078-8.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Rothman, L.S.; Barbe, A.; Chris Benner, D.; Brown, L.R.; Camy-Peyret, C.; Carleer, M.R.; Chance, K.; Clerbaux, C.; Dana, V.; Devi, V.M.; Fayt, A.; Flaud, J.-M.; Gamache, R.R.; Goldman, A.; Jacquemart, D.; Jucks, K.W.; Lafferty, W.J.; Mandin, J.-Y.; Massie, S.T.; Nemtchinov, V.; Newnham, D.A.; Perrin, A.; Rinsland, C.P.; Schroeder, J.; Smith, K.M.; Smith, M.A.H.; Tang, K.; Toth, R.A.; Vander Auwera, J.; Varanasi, P.; Yoshino, K. (November 2003). "The HITRAN molecular spectroscopic database: edition of 2000 including updates through 2001". Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer. 82 (1–4): 5–44. Bibcode:2003JQSRT..82....5R. doi:10.1016/S0022-4073(03)00146-8.
  15. ↑ Lewis, G. N. (1934). "Biology of heavy water". Science. 79 (2052): 151–153. Bibcode:1934Sci....79..151L. doi:10.1126/science.79.2042.151. PMID 17788137. S2CID 4106325.
  16. 1 2 3 Qu, Jiao; Xu, Yufei; Zhao, Shuang; Xiong, Ling; Jing, Jing; Lui, Su; Huang, Juan; Shi, Hubing (2024-07-22). "The biological impact of deuterium and therapeutic potential of deuterium-depleted water". Frontiers in Pharmacology. 15 1431204. doi:10.3389/fphar.2024.1431204. ISSN 1663-9812. PMC 11298373. PMID 39104389.
  17. ↑ Basov, Alexander; Fedulova, Liliia; Baryshev, Mikhail; Dzhimak, Stepan (2019-08-15). "Deuterium-Depleted Water Influence on the Isotope 2H/1H Regulation in Body and Individual Adaptation". Nutrients. 11 (8): 1903. doi:10.3390/nu11081903. ISSN 2072-6643. PMC 6723318. PMID 31443167.
  18. ↑ Stefanescu, I.; Peculea, M.; Titescu, G. Process and plant for obtaining biologically active water depleted of deuterium - from natural water or water from heavy water manufacture. Patent RO112422-B1, 1998.
  19. ↑ Zlotopolski, V. M. Plant for producing low-deuterium water from sea water. U.S. Patent 2005/0109604A1, 2005.
  20. ↑ Cong, F. S. Manufacture of deuterium-depleted water for use in pharmaceuticals, involves circulating liquid raw water between cold and heat-exchange towers, and transferring heavy constituent in cold tower to liquid phase by chemical exchange. Patent CN101117210-A, 2007.
  21. ↑ "Deuterium Depleted Water (DDW) Market Size, Share -2035". Business Research Insights. 2026-06-29.
  22. ↑ Pedro, Costa-Nunes, João; Kseniia, Sitdikova; Evgeniy, Svirin; Johannes, de Munter; Gabor, Somlyai; Anna, Gorlova; Alexandr, Litavrin; M., Arajyan, Gohar; Zlata, Nefedova; Alexei, Lyundup; Sergey, Morozov; Aleksei, Umriukhin; Sofia, Iliynskaya; Anton, Chernopiatko; Tatyana, Strekalova. "Transcriptomic Insights into Late-Life Depression and the Role of Environmental Drinking Water Composition: A Study on 18-Month-Old Mice". International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 26 (21). doi:10.3390/ijm (inactive 29 July 2026). ISSN 1422-0067. Archived from the original on 2025-11-14.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2026 (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. ↑ Hall, Harriet (6 July 2020). "Deuterium Depleted Water". skepticalinquirer.org. CFI. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  24. 1 2 Kyriakopoulos, Anthony M.; Seneff, Stephanie (2026-01-01). "Explaining deuterium-depleted water as a cancer therapy: a narrative review". European Journal of Cancer Prevention: The Official Journal of the European Cancer Prevention Organisation. 35 (1): 87–96. doi:10.1097/CEJ.0000000000000953. ISSN 1473-5709. PMC 12673895. PMID 41347524.
  25. ↑ Molnár, Miklós; Horváth, Katalin; Dankó, Tamás; Somlyai, Ildikó; Kovács, Beáta Zs; Somlyai, Gábor (2021-12-01). "Deuterium-depleted water stimulates GLUT4 translocation in the presence of insulin, which leads to decreased blood glucose concentration". Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry. 476 (12): 4507–4516. doi:10.1007/s11010-021-04231-0. ISSN 1573-4919. PMC 8528751. PMID 34510301.
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