The Science of Oxygenated Water

1. Homeostasis & Basic Requirements for Life

The body constantly strives for dynamic equilibrium. While a human may survive 60 days without food and three days without water, oxygen deprivation renders the body non-functional within minutes.

2. Chronic Oxygen Debt Syndrome

There is enormous probability of impaired oxygen transfer in the majority of today's adult population. Long-term ingestion of oxygen-enriched water applies to most of the population — the majority of whom suffer from Chronic Oxygen Debt Syndrome.

3. Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)

Oxygen is catabolic — it tears down and cleanses. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines Chemical Oxygen Demand as the measure of oxygen required to oxidise all compounds in water. Everything we consume — food, medication, nicotine — has a COD value. The greater the COD demand, the more oxygen is depleted from the body.

4. Overview of Cell Respiration

Ambient air is 20.9% oxygen, but only about a quarter of that is transferred to blood through the lungs. Human blood should carry a dissolved oxygen level of about 4ppm. In aerobic respiration, oxygen produces far more energy per glucose molecule than anaerobic respiration. Anaerobic respiration also produces lactic acid, reducing pH toward acidity — the Bohr effect.

5. Oxygen as a Therapeutic Tool

High altitude studies provide a model for examining chronic oxygen debt adaptations: improved O2 transport, increased cardiac output, increased red blood cells, altered haemoglobin affinity, improved micro-circulation, and direct cellular metabolic adaptations.

6. Overweight & Obesity

Sugar has an extremely high oxygen demand. Fats, which are poor in oxygen, also demand excessive oxygen to metabolise — this may explain why overweight patients experience high blood pressure as the body strives for equilibrium.

7. Endocrine System

Chronic stress releases hormones with extremely high COD values. Stress depletes oxygen throughout the system. Vietnam veterans with PTSD were three times more likely to develop autoimmune illness.

8. Digestion & Oxygen

The digestive system requires significant energy input in the form of oxygen. Key oxygen functions in digestion include: energy metabolism, cell restitution, biotransformation of toxins, control of pathogen overgrowth, maintaining mucosal barrier, efficient glucose absorption, and preventing absorption of bacterial endotoxins.

9. Cancer

Dr. Otto Warburg (1931 Nobel Prize) showed cancerous cells can live without oxygen. His work underpins the importance of cellular respiration. Drinking water is itself linked to cancer prevention — studies show women who drank more than four glasses of water daily had nearly half the risk of colon cancer.

10. Conclusion

"If one were to name the universal factor in all death, whether cellular or planetary, it would certainly be loss of oxygen."

Pulmonary function is the primary measure of potential life span. Drinking oxygenated water is as benign a therapy as ever there has been.

© TH Mathis 2006 — References available on request