Study: Extra oxygen doesn't make bottled water healthier

By Judith Blake
Seattle Times staff reporter

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Researchers in Seattle and North Carolina have thrown a wet blanket on certain health claims for bottled water infused with extra oxygen.

A study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that each of the five brands of oxygenated water the researchers tested contained less oxygen in 12 ounces than is contained in a single human breath.

The study was conducted by researchers at Seattle's Virginia Mason Medical Center and at Duke University in North Carolina. Testing 11 adults, they also found "no significant differences in exercise results" based on whether the person drank oxygenated bottled water or ordinary tap water.

Many brands of oxygenated water — a tiny but growing segment of the $8 billion wholesale bottled-water industry — claim or imply they enhance energy and athletic performance. The products are sold in some groceries and on the Internet.

Two Northwest producers of oxygenated water responded to the study in different ways. A spokeswoman for Talking Rain, of Preston, said the King County company makes no health claims for its product, called airwater, while Aqua Rush, of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, contended its oxygen-infusing technique gives its product a higher level of "stable" oxygen than any others.

The researchers would not identify any of the five brands they tested, nor whether either of the Northwest brands was included in the study.

Lead researcher Dr. Neil Hampson, who heads the pulmonary and critical-care section at Virginia Mason, said it is not clear whether the body can absorb oxygen through the digestive system.

But even if that is possible, he said, oxygen is "very insoluble" in water, so it's unlikely the level could be raised enough to enhance athletic performance.

"Most of these brands are making overt or implied claims" about enhanced energy levels, Hampson said, but the study did not support those claims. In fact, he said, "There is no information to suggest that a normal person benefits from getting more oxygen."

The researchers did find that four of the five bottled waters contained a bit more oxygen than tap water. But, Hampson said, they calculated that any benefit from the increased oxygen would last no more than two seconds for anyone exercising at moderate levels.

He noted the measured oxygen levels cannot be regarded as "absolute" because so few samples of each product were tested.

In the blind study, seven men and four women rode exercise bicycles after each drank 12 ounces of oxygenated water or tap water, then were tested for oxygen uptake, a way of measuring exercise performance. The differences were insignificant, the researchers concluded.

The peer-reviewed study appeared as a brief "research letter" in JAMA.

Bryan Kelly, chief operating officer of AquaRush, an oxygenated water sold mainly through the Internet, contended the study was too small to draw definite conclusions.

"I will admit that 99 percent of oxygenated waters are doing no good," Kelly said.

But he maintained his company's electronic method of boosting the oxygen content changes the molecular structure and makes the oxygen less likely to dissipate.

He said a German study has shown the body can absorb oxygen through the gut.

Talking Rain's vice president for marketing, Nina Morrison, said that company's only claim for its airwater product is enhanced taste.

"Creamy, fluffy — that's what some of our customers say," she said. "And 'tastes fresher' — we hear that a lot."

Hampson said the subjects in his study could not identify the oxygenated products by taste.

Judith Blake: 206-464-2349.

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