Hydrosome Labs, a Chicago-based biotechnology company pioneering ultrafine bubble (UFB) technology, has officially published a line of groundbreaking preclinical results, revealing that its UFB-treated water can beneficially shift the gut’s bacterial balance, enhance production of body-boosting nutrients, and reduce inflammatory markers.
According to certain reports, the stated results were reached upon after a 12-week peer-reviewed study, where it was discovered that drinking water infused with UFBs caused significant shifts in gut bacteria, increasing Bacteroidetes and decreasing Firmicutes.
For better understanding, Bacteroidetes basically play a critical role in breaking down complex foods and producing compounds that support digestion and metabolism, whereas on the other hand, Firmicutes extract energy from food but can contribute to fat storage and inflammation when dominant.
Now, in the present context, these changes were linked to higher levels of beneficial compounds like butyrate and valerate and lower inflammation.
 Markedly enough, the results also shifted with bubble concentration, showing UFB technology can be adjusted to support overall gut health in a targeted way. Although current methods capture only part of the gut microbiome, the results say that UFBs can very well be a promising tool for improving digestive and metabolic health.
“This study is one example of how we’re changing the role of water in product development,” said Bob Jacobs, President of Hydrosome Labs. “For decades, companies have treated water as a passive ingredient. Our technology effectively turns water from a filler to a functional ingredient. That shift in thinking is what’s exciting innovators and product developers the most.”
Talk about the given study on a slightly deeper level, we begin form how it focused on female Sprague Dawley rats, comparing health and gut microbiome outcomes between animals that drank water treated with Hydrosome’s UFB technology and a control group that drank regular deionized water.
Furthermore, rats were housed individually under controlled temperature, humidity, light, and dark conditions, with free access to standard chow and water. UFB-treated water was administered, like we briefly touched upon, for a span of 12 weeks. The whole exercise also increased concentrations increased midway to evaluate dose-dependent effects.
Beyond that, Hydrosome collected blood and fecal samples at multiple time points to monitor general health, inflammatory markers, gut bacteria composition, and short-chain fatty acid production.
Once the study had concluded, liver, kidneys, and colon tissue samples were taken and examined microscopically for histopathological changes, evaluating how UFB-treated water influences gut microbiota, metabolic activity, and overall physiological health in a controlled rodent model.
Turning our attention towards the results, they show that rats given high-concentration UFB water had 122% more Bacteroidetes and 43% less Firmicutes in their gut compared to rats drinking regular deionized water.
Next up, it deemed UFB water to increase the presence of beneficial short-chain fatty acids, such as butyrate by 56% and valerate by 63%.
Another detail worth a mention is rooted in a piece of data claiming that inflammatory markers dropped significantly across the UFB group. For instance, TNF-α fell 84%, IL-1β decreased 41%, and IL-10 went down 70% in UFB-treated rats.
Rounding up highlights would be the detection of stronger effects at higher UFB levels, something which suggests that the benefits depend on reaching a certain threshold rather than a gradual increase.
Founded in 2021, Hydrosome Labs’ rise up the ranks stems from improving water’s strength through the emerging science of ultrafine bubbles. You see, this innovative process transports active ingredients to cells more efficiently and completely with multiple applications across precision fermentation, personal care and cosmetics, beverages, and controlled environment agriculture.
In case that wasn’t enough, the company’s case is only made stronger by its leadership, which hails from Fortune 500 companies like P&G, Constellation Brands, Goldman Sachs, Nestle Health Sciences, and more.
“We observed not just incremental changes, but coordinated biological shifts once UFB concentrations reached a specific threshold — a discovery that opens up new possibilities for targeted microbiome modulation,” said Nick Jackowetz, PhD, Senior Vice President and Principal Scientist at Hydrosome Labs. “Our research suggests this could help functional food and beverage developers create products that more effectively boost beneficial bacteria, enhance the metabolites they produce, and reduce markers of inflammation, which ultimately supports better gut health for consumers.”
