Despite numerous studies conducted over the years demonstrating the diverse potential of ozone in treating various illnesses, the use of ozone therapy as a therapeutic agent remains controversial.
That’s partly because ozone has an inherently unstable molecular structure, due to the nature of its mesomeric states.
This nature has the scientific community divided. Some scientists believe that these states might be risky, while others believe this volatile nature is what gives ozone the therapeutic effects revealed in various studies.
The results of those studies are not reassuring the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), however.
In 2019, the FDA went as far as to say “Ozone is a toxic gas with no known useful medical application in specific, adjunctive, or preventive therapy.”
And yet, there is a significant body of research finding ozone has several therapeutic applications. A detailed review published in Medical Gas Research in 2017 acknowledges the unstable nature of the gas, but notes “copious volumes of research have provided evidence that O3‘s dynamic resonance structures facilitate physiological interactions useful in treating a myriad of pathologies.”
This is why, despite concerns, suspicions, and differing opinions, a multitude of ozone therapies have been explored with substantial benefits found in a wide range of short- and long-term health issues.
Because of this, despite its FDA’s blanket rejection of ozone treatments, the current regulations tolerate the use of ozone in situations where it has proven its safety and effectiveness, or more accurately, the regulations only outright prohibit ozone treatment devices for use “In any medical condition for which there is no proof of safety and effectiveness.”
Ozone is shown to have distinctive characteristics that make it a potential treatment option. In particular, some types of cancer and COVID-19 have been found to improve with ozone therapy, suggesting that it may be beneficial in reducing the risk or severity of these illnesses. Findings include the therapy decreased inflammatory markers linked to COVID-19 severity and that it was associated with a significantly shorter time to clinical improvement.
Also, a May 2022 study published in the Journal of International Medicine, looked at the apoptotic effect (the process of cell death) of ozone therapy on mitochondrial activity of highly metastatic breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 using in vitro approaches.
The study concluded that “ozone has been shown to suppress the growth of human cancer cells in culture, implying that cancer cells have a compromised defense system against ozone damage.”
The authors state, “in the current study, we demonstrated that ozone treatment could induce an anti-cancer effect on breast cancer cell lines (MDA).”
The positive correlation between ozone therapy and cancer is not new and published studies date back as far as the 1980s.
The ozone therapy method used in the field of health has been used in many types of research for cancer treatment from past to present.
Ozone therapy has been shown to increase the activation of the immune system, support the production of cancer-fighting cells, and contribute positively to the general resilience of the body. It has also been shown to play an important role in reducing the negative effects of chemotherapy.
In 1931, Dr. Otto Warburg was awarded the Nobel Prize for his research on respiratory enzymes. Warburg discovered that cancer cells have a lower respiratory rate than other cells and in turn deduced that cancer cells grow and multiply in low-oxygen environments. He theorized that increasing the oxygen level can damage or even kill them.
In 1980, a study published in the highly accredited publication, Science, found that depending on the concentration, ozone could significantly suppress the growth of distinct human cancer cells (breast, lung, and uterus) while having no effect on non-tumor cell lines.
The study found that the presence of ozone at 0.3 to 0.5 part per million inhibited cancer cell growth by 40 to 60 percent respectively, and exposure to ozone at 0.8 part per million inhibited cancer cell growth by more than 90 percent.
Ozone therapy has also been found to be a complementary medicine treatment for cancer patients that has been shown to increase the level of oxygen in the blood.
Researchers in a study published in Chemotherapy in 1990 tested their hypothesis that, because certain chemotherapy drugs can have a harmful or toxic effect, combining ozone with chemotherapy drugs may improve the effectiveness of the drugs against cancer cells.
In the study, they tested their hypothesis by treating human cancer cells with ozone and a chemotherapy drug called 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). They found that ozone helped to overcome resistance to 5-FU in cancer cells that had previously been resistant to the drug. Additionally, they found that ozone had a synergistic or at least additive effect when used in combination with chemotherapy in breast and colon cancer cells.
Another cancer drug used to treat many different types of cancer called Cisplatin (CDDP) causes kidney damage in about 25 percent of patients as a side effect. This can lead to acute renal failure—a potentially fatal condition.
A study looked at whether ozone therapy could help reduce kidney damage caused by CDDP in rats. The researchers found that the rats that received the ozone therapy had lower levels of a molecule called serum creatine, which is a marker of kidney damage, compared to rats that did not. This suggests that the therapy was able to reduce kidney damage indirectly.
When bacteria or fungi were exposed to ozone in a laboratory setting, the fats and proteins that make up the bacterial cell envelope were damaged by oxidation. These reactions together inhibit the growth of both bacteria and fungi and cause their cellular death.
Ozone can disrupt the integrity of bacterial cells causing the inactivation of:
Two recent studies have looked into Ozone therapy as an adjuvant therapy for COVID-19.
Researchers from a September 2022 study published in International Immunopharmacology, found that ozone therapy improved inflammatory markers, such as IL-6, LDH, D-Dimer, and CRP.
Studies show the effect of COVID-19 on the cardiovascular system is more severe in patients with elevated levels of inflammatory factors such as interleukin (IL)-6. High levels of (IL)-6 can be an indication of a “cytokine storm”—an excessive and potentially life-threatening immune response that can damage organs such as the lungs and kidneys.
A 2021 study published in the same journal found that ozonated autohemotherapy was associated with a shorter time to clinical improvement—7 days versus 28 days in the placebo group.
In addition to its therapeutic uses for certain types of cancer and COVID-19, ozone therapy has also been shown to be an alternative therapeutic approach for some diseases like circulatory disorders, AIDS, asthma, and cardiovascular diseases.
Ozone (O3) is a natural gaseous molecule made up of three oxygen atoms first observed in 1840 by German chemist Christian Friedrich Schonbein.
Ozone is like the Earth’s natural cleaner. It acts like soap, combining with any pollutant that it comes in contact with and helping to neutralize it. The stratosphere layer of the atmosphere also contains an abundance of ozone that softens the impact of the sun’s ultraviolet rays.
Ozone therapy refers to the process of administering ozone gas into the body to treat a disease or wound.
The first ozone generator for medical use was developed in 1857 and has been used to disinfect medical supplies and treat different health conditions for more than 100 years.
Ozone therapy can be administered in different ways. Some of the methods include:
Despite compelling research and studies spanning many years showing ozone to have a wide range of applications in treating various diseases because of its unique properties, the use of ozone therapy as a therapeutic agent currently remains controversial.
There is a perception that ozone is always toxic, but evidence indicates that when it is applied following a specified method, ozone can be effective in the treatment of degenerative diseases.