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Oxygen Water and Reasons to Avoid it

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

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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.

 
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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.

Oxygen Water and Reasons to Avoid It

Have you heard of “oxygen water?”  This self-explanatory product that you may have passed by unsuspectingly at a grocery store or a gas station contains higher levels 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, one of them being an improvement in an athlete’s performance; but is this true?  In short it isn’t.

OGO Oxygen Water, courtesy of Flickr Commons

Oxygen is an essential ingredient needed to generate energy in the human body.  When vigorously exercising, athletes are always in short of oxygen; therefore, they breathe heavier and faster to get more oxygen in their lungs.  What if there was an alternate way of getting oxygen inside your body than breathing?  Oxygen water manufacturers say that their products will increase the blood oxygen level because there is an extra supply of oxygen in the body from drinking oxygen-rich water.  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 scientist decided to challenge the science behind oxygen water.  Dr. Piantadosi tested whether consuming oxygen benefited athletic performance or not.  The study concluded that oxygen water did not improve any athletic abilities and Dr. Piantadosi stated: “oxygenated water fails both quantitative analysis and practical physiological tests of exercise performance and recovery.”

Radical Oxygen, courtesy of Wikimedia

Oxygen Radicals, courtesy of Wikimedia

Another study investigated the effects of oxygen water but approached the subject slightly different.  Schoenberg et al. (2006) were determined to figure out if oxygen water was more harmful than beneficial.  The team suspected that drinking oxygen-rich water will generate oxygen radicals and when tested, they were right.  Oxygen radicals, which are unstable form of oxygen that damage or even kill our cells, were higher than normal in the volunteers who drank oxygen water up to 30 minutes after consumption.  From these results, it is clear that oxygen water should be avoided.  Unlike the claims made by the manufacturers, they do not enhance physical endurance or athletic ability and they do more harm than good.