After much debate and consideration, IHSA suggests that the minimal amount of hydrogen should be established as a dose per day in a maximal volume of solution. The standard has been determined to provide at least 0.5 mg of H₂ by ingesting a maximal volume of 1 L of product water, or 500 mL of specialty beverages.

It is understood that more research is needed to fully know the minimum effective dose (MED) and the minimum effective concentration (MEC) of H₂ at the cellular level. Ideally, the dose would be given in mg/kg of body weight with an optimal time factor based on its half-life and pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics. However, this is more challenging with H₂ because, unlike conventional pharmacological agents, H₂ does not have a single/specific receptor/target or organ function. The MED/MEC will likely vary based on factors such as age, body weight, disease, genetics, intestinal bacteria, diet, etc. The IHSA recommendation is simply a standard based on the current cell, animal, and human clinical studies. This standard is subject to change based on additional biomedical research.