Oxygen Water: Are You Being Ripped Off?
These days, you can find food and drinks with all kinds of things
added intended to make us healthier. Orange juice fortified with
calcium, breads and cereals with extra vitamins.
Now comes bottled water with extra oxygen. Marketers
say this new breed of water can boost athletic performance and
give you more energy.
Increasing the oxygen concentration of the air you breathe does
affect performance, as does increasing the number of oxygen-carrying
red blood cells, which is why blood doping is such a problem in
high-level cycling and running competitions [4, 5].
But does adding oxygen to water have the same effect?
Oxygen water
Dr. Howard G. Knuttgen, Ph.D., professor emeritus of kinesiology
at Penn State University describes oxygenated water as "a case
of pure fraud without a physiologic foundation."
"Very little oxygen can be forced into water under pressure
— less than that contained in a single breath," he adds.
"Most of the oxygen in the water would escape into the atmosphere
when you open the container. Additional oxygen would be absorbed
into the cells of intestinal walls. All of this would happen before
any oxygen would reach the blood, much less the muscles."
That's what the experts say. But what does the research show?
One trial, published as a research letter in
the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows that
drinking bottled water described as "oxygenated" before
exercise does not improve performance [1].
For the study, five brands of bottled water marketed for their high
oxygen content were tested for the amount of oxygen per 100 milliliters
of water and compared with the amount of oxygen found in well-stirred tap water.
Water was extracted from each bottle by inserting an airtight syringe
into the side or cap of each bottle and pulling out the fluid.
As you can see in the table below, four of the five brands of oxygenated bottled water contained more
oxygen than tap water, while the amount of oxygen in one brand was
equivalent to that of tap water.
Of
the five brands tested, the one with the highest oxygen content
was used in the exercise phase of the study.
Eleven healthy adults (with an average age of 35 years) exercised
on a stationary bicycle on two different days, at least three days
apart. Five minutes before performing each exercise test, participants
were asked to drink either oxygenated or ordinary water.
During exercise, there was no difference in any marker of exercise
performance when subjects received oxygenated water rather than
ordinary water.
To quote directly from the researchers:
Air is 20.9% oxygen, and a normal human tidal breath of roughly 500 mL contains 100 mL of oxygen. Thus, a single breath of air contains more oxygen than a bottle of oxygenated water. Given that hemoglobin is already nearly saturated with oxygen during air breathing, and that only a small amount of additional oxygen can be dissolved in plasma, it is not surprising that oxygenated water did not improve maximal exercise performance. |
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin report very similar results
[3]. Their study included 12 college-aged men and women who were assigned
to drink either 500-milliliters of "super oxygenated" water (Aqua
Rush) or regular tap water.
During a multi-stage treadmill test, oxygenated water had no measurable
effect on any of the variables measured during exercise or recovery.
"Once consumed, the water is absorbed into the bloodstream across the intestinal epithelium. It is highly likely that the cells in the gut consume the extra oxygen," write the authors.
"Even if the oxygen did get absorbed, it would be absorbed into venous blood, where it is on it’s route back to the lungs for oxygenation, not to active muscle."
The second major question concerns the small amount of oxygen actually in the water. The researchers calculate that if AquaRush were to contain oxygen levels "ten times higher than the tap water you are drinking at home," one 500-milliliter bottle would contain approximately 24 milliliters of additional oxygen.
However, the oxygenated water contained only three times as much oxygen as tap water (versus ten times as much, as claimed). This translates to only 6.7 milliliters of additional oxygen per 500-milliliter bottle.
It's possible that some of the extra oxygen reportedly contained in the oxygenated water was lost while the product was on the shelf, or when the bottle was opened.
However, all the bottles were analyzed immediately after opening. And it would be very difficult to drink the water without first opening the bottle.
In short, there's very little reliable evidence to show that oxygenated water has any significant effect on exercise performance,
energy levels, or recovery.
Anyone who claims that drinking oxygenated water before exercise is the same as increasing the oxygen content of the air you breathe is, in the words of Duke University Medical Center expert Dr. Claude Anthony Piantadosi, "conflating physics and physiology in a struthonian visit to placebo land."
About The Author
 Christian Finn holds a master's degree in exercise science, is a certified personal trainer and has been featured on BBC TV and radio, as well as in Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Muscle & Fitness, Fit Pro, Zest and other popular fitness magazines.
If you're stuck
in a rut with your current exercise and diet plan... fed up with
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References
1. Hampson, N.B., Pollock, N.W., & Piantadosi, C.A. (2003).
Oxygenated water and athletic performance. Journal
of the American Medical Association, 290, 2408-2409
2. Jenkins, A., Moreland, M., Waddell, T.B., & Fernhall, B.
(2002). Effect of oxygenized water on percent oxygen saturation
and performance during exercise. Medicine and Science in Sports
and Exercise, 33, S167
3. Willmert, N., Porcari, J.P., Foster, C., Doberstein, S., &
Brice, G. (2002). The effects of oxygenated water on exercise physiology
during incremental exercise and recovery. Journal
of Exercise Physiology Online, 5, 16-21
4. Morris, D.M., Kearney, J.T., & Burke, E.R. (2000). The effects
of breathing supplemental oxygen during altitude training on cycling
performance. Journal
of Science and Medicine in Sport, 3, 165-175
5. Ploutz-Snyder, L.L., Simoneau, J.A., Gilders, R.M., Staron, R.S.,
& Hagerman, F.C. (1996). Cardiorespiratory and metabolic adaptations
to hyperoxic training. European
Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology, 73,
38-48
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