Have you heard of “oxygen water?” This self-explanatory drink contains a higher concentration of oxygen than normal water. The manufacturers of oxygen water such as GP8 oxygen water and OXiGEN all claim their products have many health benefits such as an improvement in an athlete’s performance; however, is this true? In short it isn’t.
When people are vigorously exercising, they are always out of breath. Why is that? Oxygen is an essential fuel needed to generate energy (ATP) in the human body. This process of making energy in our bodies is known as cellular respiration.
Simple Overview of Cellular Respiration. It requires oxygen, sugar (food) to make energy, carbon dioxide and water. As shown above, oxygen is a necessary component in the process. Image created by Jay Park, public domain source: http://imgur.com/a/hqKCh
When people are breathing hard, they are trying to get more oxygen in their lungs to fuel their bodies into motion. What if there was an alternate way of getting oxygen inside your body than breathing? Oxygen water manufacturers claim that drinking their product will increase the oxygen levels in your body. Unfortunately, this is no where near the truth.
With the popularity of oxygen water growing in both professional and amateur athletes, a few teams of scientists decided to challenge the science behind oxygen water. One of those scientists was Dr. Piantadosi who tested whether or not consuming oxygen water improved athletic performance. The study concluded that oxygen water did not improve any athletic abilities. Many other studies that tested oxygen water’s ability to enhance athletic ability all came to the same conclusion.
Unlike the aforementioned studies, Schoenberg and his team were determined to figure out if oxygen water was harmful by investigating the relationship between oxygen water and oxygen radicals. Oxygen radicals are a type of free radicals. Free radicals have an unpaired electron and this makes the radicals highly unstable and reactive. When they are present in our body, they can damage and even kill the cells they come in contact with; therefore, having high levels of oxygen radicals is harmful.
The scientists hypothesized that participants who drank oxygen water will have more oxygen radicals in their blood. Their hypothesis was correct. Volunteers who drank oxygen water had higher blood oxygen radical levels than normal for thirty minutes after drinking oxygen water. With this finding, the team concluded that oxygen water may be harmful to the consumer.
The scientific community has made it clear that oxygen water is not what it claims to be. Hopefully with the power of science behind your back, you will avoid wasting your money on oxygen water!
Jay Park.
Reference:
1. Haque, Rabiul. Free Radical Injury (HD). 2015. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
2. Piantadosi, C A. “”Oxygenated” Water and Athletic Performance * COMMENTARY”. British Journal of Sports Medicine 40.9 (2006): 740-741. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
3. Schoenberg MH, et al. “The Generation Of Oxygen Radicals After Drinking Of Oxygenated Water. – Pubmed – NCBI”. Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. N.p., 2016. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
4. Teacher’s Pet. Cellular Respiration. 2014. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.
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