Following my post Oxygen – it’s a drink! I was reminded of FEMO2 “water with more”. More what? I hear you ask. Well, they it’s “loaded with oxygen”. Also it’s “the energized alternative” to ordinary bottled water. Wow! I’m always looking for an alternative, and one that’s energized as well seems like a surefire winner. So how do they keep the oxygen in the water, and what does “energized” mean. Let’s check out their FAQ's:
3. How do you keep the oxygen in the water? Answer coming soon.
4. What is energization? Answer coming soon.
5. What is magnetization? Answer coming soon.
No answers to the FAQs. Oh well.
Regarding its oxygen content, they claim:
FEMO2 infuses the filtered, energized and magnetized water with pure food-grade oxygen to levels up to 120mg/litre.
“Food-grade oxygen”! Well, of course. I wouldn’t expect just any old oxygen, it would have to be “food grade” oxygen. If you search around, they do say about energization:
The water is forced through a Reformer Chamber where a patented process breaks down the water molecules into smaller clusters permitting better absorption of the oxygen when digested.
Of course, the water molecules are in “smaller clusters” to allow faster hydration. (Where have I heard that before?) And it’s a patented process so that means it must work. Oh wait, no it doesn’t! Even if it did work, the extra oxygen in the water would just be an expensive burp:
I highly recommend it if you happen to be a fish, but if you have lungs that breathe air, then forget about it!
(Snip)
But what happens when you open the bottle? That's right, the extra oxygen goes right back out— but not immediately, so by drinking oxygenated water, you can still take in a bit more oxygen. But can any oxygen molecules that don't get burped back out actually find their way into your bloodstream through absorption in the stomach or intestine? I don't pretend to know, but I very much doubt it; the lungs are exquisitely adapted to this function, while your digestive system is specialized for absorbing other nutrients. Suppose, instead, that you simply breathe in an extra liter of air (much easier to do than drinking a liter of water!)
Actually, even if you did, you won’t get any extra oxygen into your blood, according to The Harvard Medical School:
when red blood cells pass through the lungs, 95%-100% of them are loaded, or "saturated," with oxygen
So a healthy person will not be able to absorb much extra oxygen anyway.
Great looking web page though.
Unless you are a smoker, in which case you will have a fair amount of carbon monoxide attached to your hemoglobin.
Posted by: latibulum | May 10, 2005 at 06:47 AM
Classic...it's the modern version of selling the Brooklyn Bridge to naive tourists.
Posted by: Sechel_tov | May 10, 2005 at 07:09 AM
"Water molecules tend to group together and form large clusters, which are too big to be absorbed optimally by the human body and so hydration becomes slower"
I was just ROFL on reading this.
But their stuff on oxygenation is an outright lie. Interestingly, each paragraph is factually correct. Oxygen is required for survival, air quality is declining, tap water has lower oxygen than FEMO2. They don't say that FEMO2 provides us our oxygen needs... coz that will be a white lie... but that is the inference one would draw on reading that page.
Latibulum,
Humans don't have gills to absorb oxygen from water.
Posted by: Niket | May 13, 2005 at 02:56 PM
I always thought that "oxygenated" water would have an interesting effect on taste, the same way that carbonated water is usually made bitter.
Posted by: Kyle | May 20, 2005 at 01:59 PM