Oxygenated Water - Does it Live Up to the Hype?

With all the trends and fads that are going around today, it is no surprise that water would join in the trends. Sparkling waters, flavored waters and even water that help boost your energy. There is also a water product now out (has been out for a few years and sold at health food stores and online) called oxygenated water. There are two sides to every product story and this product is no exception. While it is true one can survive three weeks without food (although it would not be fun), three days without water, but we can survive only minutes without air. Most of the oxygen we get is from the air that we breathe. (Source: www.oxygenup.com)

The first side of the story is the side that makes the water tempting. Such claims that the contaminated free water is pumped with up to ten times the oxygen that is normal present in water (which is naturally one-third) and because of this, the now oxygenated water may have such benefits as - increase in energy levels, increase in stamina, increase in alertness, suppression of appetite, may reduce pulse rate and blood pressure, as well as a host of others. Soft drinks, juices and coffee do not supply the proper amount of water necessary, thus leaving you feel tired and drained - by drinking water, especially oxygenated water, will take care of the tired feelings. So the claims go.

Now on the other side of the story - these are the naysayers, the ones who debunk all of the claims that a product can do. Dr. John Itamura, an USC orthopedic surgeon states that oxygenated water is an "advertising gimmick" as the body absorbs all of its oxygen through the lungs even though the body may absorb a very little amount of the dissolved oxygen through the stomach. Dr. Howard G. Knuttgen, Ph.D. concurs with Dr. Itamura and adding that oxygenated water is "a case of pure fraud without physiologic foundation". Very little oxygen can be forced into water under pressure and whatever oxygen does manage to be pumped into the water, it will escape when opened.

There have been studies and they also conflict. Some of the tests show that oxygenated water positively affects the body while others say that there are no significant changes. There is very little reliable evidence to show any significant performance increase, but drinking oxygenated water will cause no harm, but there is no belief to substantially help.

It is up to the consumer to make the decision to start drinking oxygenated water. You can purchase oxygenated water from almost any health food store (Source. www.hiosilver.com) or you can purchase kits that allows the consumer to place drops in standard tap water to help "clean and add oxygen" - this can get pricey as the kit can run approximately $30 (Source: www.phionbalance.com).