Re: Is it possible to infuse water with extra oxygen?

1) Yes, you can infuse water with more than the normal amount of oxygen. In fact, water in the environment has many different levels of oxygen according to where you get it. Stagnant lake water has much less oxygen than water from a running brook.

2) Water exposed to air and fully in equilibrium with it will have several gases dissolved in the water. Since air is about 80% nitrogen and 20% oxygen, the dissolved gases will be in that ratio. To change the ratio, you have to change the ratio in the air with which the water is in contact. So, you could increase the amount of oxygen in water simply by bubbling pure oxygen through the water for a few minutes. However, once the bubbling was stopped and this water was put back into contact with air, it would requilibrate with the 80% nitrogen/20% oxygen of the air and over a few hours regain its original ratio of dissolved gases.

3) I've never heard of the product mentioned. If it is simply water that has had oxygen bubbled through it, yes it has extra oxygen. Once you open the container, it would equilibrate over a few hours with the air. If you drank it, it would make no difference whatsoever. You generally do not absorb gases from the intestine. You would probably just feed the bacteria in the intestine some more oxygen. However, those bacteria have very, very, very active oxygen scavenging systems. They are anaerobic bacteria (grow ONLY in the absence of oxygen. If you gave them extra oxygen, they would scavenge it very quickly. I doubt the body would see any of it. Moreover, if you gave the bacteria too much oxygen, it would kill or at least stop their growth. This may sound like a good idea, but definitely isn't. You need all those bacteria. They help you digest food, provide vitamins that humans cannot make, and keep other, pathogenic bacteria from colonizing the intestine.

4) In brief, the product won't work chemically. The quickest way to get more oxygen is to breath pure oxygen directly. This won't do much since your blood is already pretty saturated with oxygen just from normal breathing. It might do a little, but drinking anything won't work.