Recently, canned oxygen has attracted attention from other products that promise to improve health and energy, especially in Colorado. CU Anschutz experts explain what the manufacturers are saying.
Within three years, canned oxygen was almost as available as real oxygen. Increased demand driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, “Shark Tank” deals and scenes from “The Simpsons” has led to a surge in the number of small aluminum cans on store shelves from pharmacies to gas stations.
Boost Oxygen has more than 90% of the bottled oxygen market, with sales steadily increasing after winning the business reality show “Shark Tank” in 2019.
Although the labels state that the products are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration and are for recreational use only, the advertising promises improved health, improved athletic performance and assistance with altitude acclimatization, among other things.
The series explores current health trends through the scientific lens of CU Anschutz experts.
Colorado, with its large outdoor recreation community and high-altitude playgrounds, has become a target market for portable oxygen tanks. But did they deliver?
“Few studies have examined the benefits of short-term oxygen supplementation,” said Lindsay Forbes, MD, a fellow in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “We don’t have enough data,” said Forbes, who will join the department in July.
This is because prescription oxygen, regulated by the FDA, is required in medical settings for long periods of time. There’s a reason it’s delivered this way.
“When you inhale oxygen, it travels from the respiratory tract into the bloodstream and is absorbed by hemoglobin,” said Ben Honigman, MD, professor emeritus of emergency medicine. Hemoglobin then distributes these oxygen molecules throughout the body, an efficient and continuous process.
According to Forbes, if people have healthy lungs, their bodies can effectively maintain normal levels of oxygen in their blood. “There is not enough evidence that adding more oxygen to normal oxygen levels helps the body physiologically.”
According to Forbes, when health care workers provide oxygen to patients with low oxygen levels, it typically takes two to three minutes of continuous oxygen delivery to see a change in the patient’s oxygen levels. “So I wouldn’t expect just one or two puffs from the canister to provide enough oxygen to the blood flowing through the lungs to really have a meaningful effect.”
Many manufacturers of oxygen bars and oxygen cylinders add aromatic essential oils such as peppermint, orange or eucalyptus to the oxygen. Pulmonologists generally recommend that no one inhale the oils, citing potential inflammation and allergic reactions. For people with certain lung conditions, such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, adding oils may cause flare-ups or symptoms.
Although oxygen tanks are generally not harmful to healthy people (see sidebar), Forbes and Honigman recommend that no one use them to self-medicate for any medical reason. They say rising sales during the pandemic suggest some people are using them to treat COVID-19, a potentially dangerous variant that could delay critical medical care.
Another important consideration, Honigman said, is that oxygen is fleeting. “As soon as you take it off, it disappears. There is no reservoir or savings account for oxygen in the body.”
According to Honigman, in one study in which oxygen levels in healthy subjects were measured using pulse oximeters, the subjects’ oxygen levels stabilized at a slightly higher level after about three minutes while the subjects continued to receive oxygen, and after the oxygen supply was stopped, the level oxygen is back. to pre-addition levels for about four minutes.
So professional basketball players may get some benefit from continuing to breathe oxygen between games, Honigman said. It briefly increases oxygen levels in hypoxic muscles.
But skiers who regularly pump gas from tanks, or even go to “oxygen bars” (popular establishments in mountain towns or heavily polluted cities that supply oxygen, often through a cannula, for 10 to 30 minutes at a time), will not improve their performance over the course of the entire distance. day. Performance on the ski slopes. , since oxygen dissipates long before the first launch.
Forbes also reiterated the importance of the delivery system, noting that the oxygen canister does not come with a medical mask that covers the nose and mouth. Therefore, the claim that the can is “95% pure oxygen” is also a lie, she said.
“In a hospital setting, we have medical grade oxygen and we titrate it to different levels to give people different amounts of oxygen depending on how they receive it. “For example, with a nasal cannula, someone may actually be receiving 95% oxygen. not available. ”
Forbes states that room air, which contains 21% oxygen, mixes with the prescribed oxygen because the room air the patient breathes also leaks around the nasal cannula, reducing the level of oxygen received.
The labels on canned oxygen tanks also claim that they help solve altitude-related problems: on its website, Boost Oxygen actually lists Colorado and the Rockies as places to carry canned oxygen.
The higher the altitude, the lower the air pressure, which helps transport oxygen from the atmosphere to the lungs, Honigman said. “Your body doesn’t absorb oxygen as efficiently as it does at sea level.”
Lower oxygen levels can cause altitude sickness, especially for visitors to Colorado. “About 20 to 25 percent of people traveling from sea level to high altitudes get acute mountain sickness (AMS),” Honigmann said. Before his retirement, he worked at the Center for High Altitude Research at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, where he continues to conduct research.
A 5-liter bottle of Boost Oxygen costs about $10 and can provide up to 100 inhalations of 95% pure oxygen in one second.
While Denver residents are more resistant, about 8 to 10 percent of people also contract AMS while traveling to upscale resort towns, he said. Symptoms caused by low blood oxygen (headaches, nausea, fatigue, trouble sleeping) usually appear within 12 to 24 hours and may prompt people to seek help at an oxygen bar, Honigman said.
“It actually helps reduce these symptoms. You feel better when you breathe in oxygen, and for a short time afterwards,” Honigman said. “So if you have mild symptoms and start to feel better, it will likely induce a feeling of well-being.”
But for most people, symptoms return, prompting some to return to the oxygen bar for more relief, Honigman said. Since more than 90% of people acclimatize to high altitudes within 24–48 hours, this step may be counterproductive. Some scientists believe that extra oxygen will only delay this natural adaptation, he said.
“My personal opinion is that it’s a placebo effect, which has nothing to do with physiology,” agrees Honigman.
“Getting extra oxygen sounds nice and natural, but I don’t think the science backs it up,” she said. “There is very real evidence that if you think something will help you, it may actually make you feel better.”
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