Label Review
Oxy-Max!
January 2000; Volume 2: 8
Package Information
"Oxy-Max gently, safely and effectively gives your body much-needed additional cellular oxygen for optimum health and vitality."
"Replaces Genesis 1000"
Recommended Use
Directions: put 10 to 20 drops in a glass, add 6-8 ounces of water and drink. Repeat three times daily, or as directed by your Health Professional. Take on an empty stomach.
Warning: never use undiluted. Avoid contact with skin or eyes. Keep out of reach of children.
Supplement Facts
Ingredients: De-ionized water, sodium chlorite, sodium carbonate. Contains less than 9 mg sodium per 10 drops. Less than 1% RDA.
Earth’s Bounty, Matrix Health Products Inc., 8400 Magnolia Avenue, Suite N., Santee, California 92071.
Price: 2 fl. oz. (59 mL), $18.15
Aquagen®
January 2000; Volume 2: 8
Package Information
"For over 50 years, medical practitioners and nutritionists have agreed that oxygen plays perhaps the most important role in sustaining a healthy body. Not until Aquagen® has there been a supplement that provides so much concentrated, stabilized oxygen for the body to use.
Without a dependable supply of oxygen, the cells in our bodies cannot function properly. In fact, experts agree that oxygen deficiency may be the major cause of all major degenerative diseases as well as playing the primary role in the correct functioning of our immune system.
Oxygen is consumed by the cells in our bodies on a moment-by-moment basis and that is why we need a continual cleanser and detoxifier since it combines with the other toxic by-products of metabolism to create less harmful substances that can be eliminated by the body.
Aquagen®, as a dietary supplement, provides the body with additional oxygen which may be previously lost to pollutants, toxins and their oxygen-robbing factors. The oxygen in Aquagen® works hand-in-hand with daily supplements like vitamins, minerals and amino acids.
The oxygen in Aquagen® is completely safe, non-toxic and hypo-allergenic to use and consume as a daily supplement.
This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA."
Recommended Use
Adults: 15 drops in 8 oz of water 3 times a day on an empty stomach at least 30 minutes before each meal. Consult your physician before taking during pregnancy or if pre-existing conditions exist. Children under 12 should take half the adult daily dosage. Shake well before using. Do not use a metal utensil for mixing.
Supplement Facts
Ingredients: oxygen molecules in a solution of sodium chloride and distilled water.
Manufactured by Aquagen International, Inc. An O.T.C. exchange company symbol "AQ G N," 154 E. Ford Ave., Salt Lake City, UT 84115.
Price: 2 fl. oz. (59.1 mL), $13.55
Comments by Adriane Fugh-Berman, MD: Both products are colorless. The only ingredients listed on Aquagen’s label are oxygen molecules in a solution of sodium chloride and distilled water. If this product merely contained dissolved oxygen in saline it would at least be a harmless luxury item, but Aquagen smells strongly like bleach (sodium hypochlorite), perhaps the source of those "oxygen molecules" listed under ingredients.
Oxy-Max! has no smell. One would think that the warning on Oxy-Max!, "avoid contact with skin and eyes," would make consumers think twice about putting it in their mouths. The second ingredient listed under ingredients for Oxy-Max! is sodium chlorite, a powerful oxidizing agent used in water purification and for bleaching textiles.
Sorry, readers, I will do many things for you, but ingesting products I believe are harmful is not one of them. In lieu of tasting these products, I conducted a crude experiment on the bleaching ability of these products. Three drops of each product, as well as a distilled water control, were applied to black cotton and teal silk and allowed to air-dry. (No actual clothing was harmed in this experiment. I’m glad that my reluctance to throw out fabric-covered shoulder pads has served a scientific purpose.) Oxy-Max! did an impressive job of bleaching both the silk and the cotton; Aquagen did not bleach either fabric (it stained the silk but no more than the water control).
Want more oxygen? Take deep breaths. Although it is certainly true that oxygen is necessary for sustaining human life, traditional respiration is definitely the preferred route. These products are part of a genre called "oxygen therapies." Other variations include ozone therapy and the use of dilute hydrogen peroxide (internally or topically). There is no evidence or even rational theory to support the concept that oral administration of oxidizing agents increases oxygen levels to cells, and the consumption of oxidizing agents is probably harmful. Oxidizing agents kill cells (most chemotherapy agents are strong oxidizing agents). I find it particularly ironic that consumers ingesting these oxidizing products are probably also taking antioxidant vitamins. It is too bad that the FDA’s options for regulating dietary supplements have been so constrained by Congress.
January 2000; Volume 2: 8
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