Activated Oxygen Therapy, Oxygen Utilization, Aging and Disease

Are you suffering from long-haul COVID or other chronic illnesses? Hoping to improve your metabolic health for longevity or performance? 

Activated Oxygen Therapy (AOT AKA Ozone) may be just what you’ve been looking for.

This past year has illuminated the connection between metabolic health and the likelihood of bad outcomes from infections such as COVID-19. 

Our bodies stay healthy so long as our biological systems—like our adrenals, immune systems, neurological pathways, digestive systems, metabolism, and hormonal systems—are stronger than the internal and external stressors. 

Stressors could be many things but include infections, toxins, emotional pressure, injuries, deficiencies, and allergens. 

Diseases are hard to cure because most diseases result from a complex of 2-5 biological imbalances. To treat the disease, each imbalance must be treated. The imbalances must be analyzed and treated simultaneously. 

This is where AOT comes in. 

AOT does not act as a drug; it is a biological modifier. Sir William Osler, a physician who is considered to be one of the fathers of modern medicine, said that one of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine. As long as our biological systems are stronger than our stressors, we avoid medicines by addressing the root of disease processes. 

AOT has been shown to be effective in treating musculoskeletal injuries and chronic pain, coronary artery and cardiovascular disease, macular degeneration, aging, chronic fatigue, cancer, acute and chronic infections, interstitial cystitis, sinus infections, allergies and dermatitis, auto-immune diseases, and ulcerative colitis. 

If you’re interested in learning more, or maybe have only heard of AOT in the context of the ozone layer around the earth, read on.

Ozone (molecular O3) is formed when oxygen atoms in oxygen (molecular O2) are split and then recombined into a triplet molecule. 90% of the earth’s ozone layer is formed when the sun’s UV energy hits oxygen. Ozone has been used as a disinfectant as far back as 1881. The first ozone generator for medical use was patented in 1896. This is not a new therapy.

That said, it has shown tremendous results in the past year with COVID in addition to chronic infection such a lyme, mold, EBV, etc. 

Unfortunately, most people, including healthcare providers, are unaware of AOT capacity to improve metabolic health.

The primary reason AOT works is oxygen utilization. Oxygen is our most critical nutrient. The key to the treatment and prevention of disease is optimum oxygen utilization. The difference between you at 20 and you at 70 is the efficiency at which you utilize oxygen. Decreased oxygen utilization happens locally and systemically. 

When we have decreased oxygen utilization we develop many signs including exercise intolerance, sensitivity to cold, fatigue, weakness, generalized pain, chronic disease and shortness of breath with exertion. 

As we get older, our oxygen utilization steadily declines. Our maximal aerobic capacity is a measurement of oxygen utilization. It is also an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease, cognitive dysfunction and all cause mortality. 

Even highly trained marathon runners show a decrease in oxygen utilization with age. There are many studies linking poor oxygen utilization with diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Cancer, osteoporosis, macular degeneration, hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease and diabetes.

Why is this? Decreased oxygen utilization causes degenerative changes secondary to excessive free radical activity. Free radical damage ultimately leads to mitochondrial decay. Your risk for premature aging and degenerative disease is determined by your genetics and rate of mitochondrial decay. You can’t change your genetics but you can slow down your rate of decay in many ways including AOT.

Decreased oxygen utilization also exerts its effects by causing a reduced NAD/NADH ratio. The optimal ratio is 700/1. NAD (Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) is a metabolic regulator of transcription, longevity and disease. NAD is rate limiting for cell signaling and the control of many intracellular processes including DNA repair, apoptosis and telomere maintenance. It catalyzes reactions in the mitochondria as seen in the diagram below. As the NAD/NADH ratio decreases all cellular reactions slow down including the reactions needed to increase the ratio. The decreasing ratio spirals downward in a viscous cycle called aging. 

AOT increases the ratio of NAD/NADH and thus improves oxygen utilization. The action of AOT is enhanced by adding B vitamins and oral NADH. There are many other ways to increase NAD such as exercise, curcumin, fish oil, T3, fasting, alpha lipoic acid, quercetin and cannabinoids.

The most effective way to maximize the effects of AOT is to combine it with other therapies aimed at eliminating the causes of decreased oxygen utilization. 

How does ozone work for chronic infections? There is an imbalance between two types of immune cells. The TH1/TH2 ratio gets out of balance with chronic infections and AOT corrects this imbalance by manipulating cytokines.

We’ve heard a lot about cytokines this year with COVID as their increase causes a lot of the debilitating and deadly respiratory manifestations. 

So what does a AOT treatment look like? Check out the video below for a clip of me getting treatment. Basically, your blood gets sucked up into a plastic egg; ozone is injected into your blood, and blood is reintroduced to the body. We may do this anywhere between 2-10+ times, depending on a patient profile and history.