80% of all our metabolic energy production is created
by oxygen! The human body is largely composed of oxygen,
so it is no wonder that scientists are now discovering
how low levels of oxygen can disrupt the body’s
ability to function correctly. The oxygen concentration
in a healthy human body is approximately three times
that of air. Fortunately, oxygen is the most abundant
element on earth comprising nearly 50% of the earth’s
crust and averaging about 20% of dry air in a non-polluted
environment. OXYGEN IS THE SPARK OF LIFE! "Oxygen
is needed in the body. We can be without food and water
for a lengthy time. We can be without oxygen only for
a few seconds...it is the spark of life." Dr. Charles
H. Farr, M.D., Ph.D.: O 2 Therapies
Scientists now also agree that oxygen plays a powerful
and primary role in our overall health and well-being.
A growing number of researchers have confirmed that
the best way to improve health may be related to the
optimum oxygenation of every cell. All metabolic processes
in the body are regulated by oxygen. Our brains process
billions of bits of information each second. Our metabolic
processes work to rid our bodies of waste and toxins.
Even our abilities to think, feel and act require oxygen-related
energy production.
Oxygen also plays a vital role in proper metabolic
functions, blood circulation, the assimilation of nutrients,
digestion and the elimination of cellular and metabolic
wastes. Sufficient oxygen helps the body in its ability
to rebuild itself and maintain a strong and healthy
immune system. You know how important water, vitamins,
minerals and enzymes are to your health and vitality.
Although you can actually exist without food for about
40 days, and water for about seven days, without oxygen,
life ceases to exist in only minutes. OXYGEN IS THE
SOURCE TO ALL LIFE! "Oxidation is the source of
life. Its lack causes impaired health or disease; its
cessation, death." Dr. Eugene Blass, Ph.D.: Oxygen
Therapy: Its Foundation, Aim & Result
Factors that may affect our body’s oxygen supply:
1. Diminishing amounts of atmospheric oxygen. Today,
cutting edge researchers believe that even relatively
healthy people may have trouble extracting all of the
oxygen that they need from the air. In fact, the air
itself is becoming more and more polluted, making oxygen
extraction more difficult. Physiologists understand
that breathing polluted air, or breathing air that contains
less oxygen, puts tremendous stress on the human body.
Surprisingly, paleontologists have analyzed the oxygen
in air bubbles trapped in fossilized amber from the
Jurassic Era. Their research revealed that the oxygen
levels were significantly higher then than they are
today.
In fact, many scientists now believe that the dinosaurs
became extinct because of a rapid drop in oxygen and
the inability of their respiratory systems to adapt
to this oxygen reduction. If the dinosaurs became extinct
because they could not obtain enough oxygen, is it any
wonder that our bodies can suffer as well as our oxygen
supplies become more polluted?
2. The diet’s role in oxygen shortages. Eating
junk food on a regular basis forces the body to use
up more of its oxygen reserves than usual in order to
metabolize the preservatives and what few nutrients
may actually be in the “food”. Complex carbohydrates
and raw fruits and vegetables are high in oxygen with
as much as 50% of the weight of these foods made up
of oxygen. The percentage of oxygen in fats is less
than 15% while the percentage of oxygen in protein is
between 20% and 40%, depending on the protein’s
amino acid profile. Dense food compounds, such as fats
and proteins, are not only low in oxygen content, but
also require extra oxygen from the body to convert them
into energy which further depletes the body's oxygen
reserves. Other oxygen-robbing foods include processed
sugar, white flour, alcohol and caffeinated drinks.
The body has to divert needed oxygen from primary metabolic
functions, such as heartbeat, blood flow, brain function
and immune response, just to oxidize and metabolize
these foods.
3. Stress and oxygen. Any excessive stress, including
a heavy workload, traumatic or intense events in your
life, prolonged depression and anxiety, can rob the
body of huge amounts of its much-needed oxygen. Emotional
stress produces adrenaline and adrenaline-related hormones,
requiring the body to draw on its oxygen reserves for
their production and eventual oxidation. Infection also
depletes the body's oxygen, which is used to combat
bacteria.
4. Acidity and oxygen reserves. Individuals with chronically
acidic systems also use up oxygen reserves. This can
lead to a cycle of toxin accumulation and oxygen depletion.
One way in which the body combats excess acidity is
by trying to neutralize it with oxygen. To do so, it
must continually divert oxygen away from its primary
metabolic functions and direct it toward the acidic
cells and tissues.
5. Oxygen shortages and infection. When body oxygen
falls to extremely low levels for prolonged periods
of time, the body may become a breeding ground for harmful
bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites and other infectious
agents. Most of these are anaerobic, meaning they cannot
live in an oxygen-rich environment. Some research indicates
that when the oxygen content of the body is within a
normal level, infectious microorganisms have a more
difficult time breeding and multiplying. The partial
pressure of oxygen in normal blood should be approximately
97%. Within each red blood cell are iron-rich hemoglobin
molecules. Approximately 97% of the oxygen carried to
the cells is attached to these hemoglobin molecules
with 3% of the oxygen supply dissolved in the blood
plasma. When your blood oxygen levels remain low for
extended periods of time, the cells cannot get an adequate
and consistent supply of oxygen and they may have difficulty
resisting the invasion of microorganisms.
6. Lack of exercise. The body responds to exercise
by increasing oxygen intake by breathing hard and deeper.
This increase in blood oxygen levels helps the body
perform two very important functions. First, the additional
oxygen permits the creation and release of more energy
for the exercise. Second, the increased supply of oxygen
is utilized by the body to remove by-product wastes
that are the result of a higher metabolic rate. A sedentary
lifestyle can inhibit the removal of toxic wastes from
the body.
LOW BODY OXYGEN LEVELS MAY JUST BE THE CAUSE OF ALL
SICKNESS & DISEASE! "All chronic pain, suffering
and diseases are caused from a lack of oxygen at the
cell level." Dr. Arthur C. Guyton, M.D.: T h e
Textbook on Medical Physiolog y Atmospheric Oxygen Levels
Are Declining! After decades of controversy in the scientific
community, research has confirmed that oxygen levels
have been declining, and continue to decline. Pollution
is a major factor that has affected the quality, and
quantity, of oxygen available for respiration and metabolism.
Scientists have analyzed oxygen specimen trapped in
amber and have determined that oxygen levels at one
time were in excess of 35% to as much as 50%! Prior
to the advent of the gasoline combustion engine at the
turn of the last century, oxygen levels in the air were
at about 23%. By the mid 1900s, levels had dropped in
major cities to about 19%. By the end of the 20th century,
major cities across the globe have reported levels at
15%, and several cities have reported alarmingly low
levels, combined with industrial pollution at 10%. This
level, if maintained for a prolonged period of time
will choke out life.
Major Sources of Oxygen Production Are Affected: One
of the major sources of oxygen on our plant is the waste
product of plant respiration (photosynthesis). Plants
require carbon dioxide (CO2) to synthesize the energy
they need to grow and reproduce. A waste product of
their metabolic cycle is Oxygen (O2). Thus, plants and
mankind have a wonderful symbiotic relationship. Tropical
rainforests produce 40% of Earth's oxygen. The Amazon
Rainforest has been described as the "Lungs of
our Planet" because it continuously recycles carbon
dioxide into oxygen.
However, man has been rapidly destroying one of the
major sources of oxygen production on the plant: the
rain forests. It is the new plant growth, not mature
plants that produce the highest levels of oxygen. Sadly,
we are losing Earth's greatest biological treasures
just as we are beginning to appreciate their true value.
Rainforests once covered 15% of the earth's land surface;
now they cover a mere 6% and experts estimate that the
last remaining rainforests could be consumed in less
than 40 years. In 1950, about 15 percent of the Earth's
land surface was covered by rainforest. Today, more
than half has already gone up in smoke. In fewer than
fifty years, more than half of the world's tropical
rainforests have fallen victim to fire and the chain
saw, and the rate of destruction is still accelerating.
Unbelievably, more than 200,000 acres of rainforest
are burned every day. That is more than 150 acres lost
every minute of every day, and 78 million acres lost
every year! More than 20 percent of the Amazon rainforest
is already gone, and much more is severely threatened
as the destruction continues. It is estimated that the
Amazon alone is vanishing at a rate of 20,000 square
miles a year. Yet, the destruction of the ocean’s
plankton far surpasses the decimation of the rain forests
in its effect on our oxygen supply.
Plankton are microscopic plants that also appear at
the very beginning of a complex and extremely delicate
food chain in the oceans of our world. They provide
not only “food” but also “oxygen”.
Watson W. Gregg, a NASA biologist at the Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, is one of many scientists
that have spent a lifetime analyzing the relationship
of plankton to oxygen production, as well as the rising
ocean temperatures and manmade water pollution. What
scientists have determined is that there has been a
significant decline in plankton growth that has had
a direct effect on the world's carbon cycle, Normally,
the ocean plants take up about half of all the carbon
dioxide in the world's environment because these plants
use the carbon, along with sunlight, to grow. As they
grow, they release oxygen into the atmosphere in a process
known as photosynthesis. The primary production of plankton
in the North Pacific has already decreased by more than
9 percent during the past 20 years, and by nearly 7
percent in the North Atlantic, Gregg and his colleagues
determined this from their satellite observations and
shipboard surveys. Combining all the major ocean basins
of the world, Gregg and his colleagues found the decline
in plankton productivity more than 6 percent!
