The Benefits of Ozone Therapy

Have you heard about the benefits of ozone therapy? Here are just a few of the many ways ozone therapy can help improve your health.

• Better energy! Ozone increases the release of oxygen from red blood cells into body tissues, making more oxygen naturally available to cells. It also stimulates oxygen metabolism, which amplifies the production of ATP in the mitochondria of every cell.
  
  
• Fights illness. In addition to increasing the fighting power of the immune system, ozone is also directly antimicrobial against:
  • Bacteria
  • Viruses
  • Fungi
  • Yeast
  • Protozoa
    
    
• Anti-aging and Anti-cancer. Ozone stimulates the body’s natural production of antioxidant free radical scavengers: glutathione peroxidase, catalase, and superoxide dismutase. More antioxidants on board means our bodies are better protected from many degenerative diseases and cancerous cell mutations.

What is Ozone Therapy?

Ozone is an unstable gas consisting of three oxygen molecules. The instability of this molecule causes it to readily break apart and release a single electron (a.k.a. a free radical) in a chemical process known as oxidation. You have probably only heard of oxidation as being bad or harmful. Still, just as with inflammation, only excessive amounts cause degeneration and disease–a little bit is beneficial and necessary for health.

It’s the oxidative property of ozone that makes it a powerful therapeutic agent in the body. One of the ways it does this is by promoting increased production of our own antioxidants, one of which is glutathione. We call glutathione the “Master Antioxidant” of the body. Glutathione is not only our strongest antioxidant, but it also serves to naturally recycle and restore other antioxidants in our bodies, like vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, alpha-lipoic acid – and the list goes on.

• Ozone has no known toxicity to any tissue except for the lungs. Ozone is toxic to the lungs and should not be inhaled.

Another way the oxidation of ozone is beneficial is by destroying pathogens and neutralizing many toxins.

Not only does ozone demolish viruses and directly kill bacteria and fungi, but it also boosts our own immune system to help it fight harder. It does this by stimulating the release of immune system messengers called cytokines and stimulating the production of white blood cells that will respond to the call and join the fight. In this way, ozone helps the body to better fight infections naturally and inhibit tumor growth.

In addition to all of the above, the benefits of ozone therapy include increasing the metabolism of red blood cells, allowing each one to carry and release oxygen more efficiently. It also helps to dilate constricted blood vessels, thereby increasing the flow of this newly oxygenated blood into every tissue in the body. More oxygen means each cell can better perform its work, whether it be a muscle cell, brain cell, liver cell, or any other critical cell that you want functioning at its peak.

Quick History Lesson:

• The documented use of ozone goes back to the 1800s with the 1st ozone generator patent given to Nikola Tesla in 1896.
• Ozone has been used to disinfect drinking water since the early 1900s.
• Ozone use in medicine goes back to the early 1900s when Dr. Joachim Hansler invented the first reliable ozone-generating machine.
• In World War I, ozone gas was used to successfully treat German soldiers affected by gangrene, an infection that thrives in an oxygen-poor environment.
• Exposure to ozone, which was done by putting the affected limb into an airtight bag and filling the bag with ozone, helped destroy the harmful bacteria and was the only therapy that worked to save the limbs.
• The first use of ozone intravenously was performed in the 1940s, and its development is credited to Dr. H. Wolff.
• Intravenous ozone is the most common ozone treatment today. It is used by thousands of physicians worldwide in countries such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, England, Canada, Russia, Eastern Europe, Cuba, and Mexico. But in the US, it still lacks FDA approval.

Ozone is Used to Treat and Improve:

• Wound healing
• Circulatory disorders, heart disease
• Acute infections like colds, flu, dental or skin infections
• Chronic infections like Hepatitis B & C, Epstein-Barr, Cytomegalovirus, Herpes Simplex and Zoster, Lyme, Streptococcal and Staphylococcal infections, and Candidiasis
• Autoimmune disorders like Systemic Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Allergies
• Cancer
• Acute and chronic fatigue
• Preventive aging
• Athletic performance and endurance

Benefits of Ozone Therapy Outside of Medicine:

• Used in the hotel and restaurant industry for odor elimination and mold remediation
• Used as a disinfectant in veterinary offices and hospitals
• Used after a fire to remove the smell of smoke
• Used after flooding to kill mildew as well as to remove musty odor.

If you’d like to talk to one of our naturopathic doctors to see how ozone therapy can benefit you, call 480-588-6856 for a free brief meet and greet today.

J Nat Sci Biol Med. 2011 Jan-Jun; 2(1): 66–70. Ozone therapy: A clinical review. A. M. Elvis