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The oxygen cocktail is a foamy substance containing a beverage drink (juice, milk, etc.) enriched in gaseous oxygen. The drink is used as part of oxygen therapy by a number of Soviet medical institutions; their research suggest that the drink, by supplying oxygen, allegedly reduces chronic fatigue syndrome and hypoxia and activates metabolism. [1]
The oxygen cocktail was developed in the 1960s by the Russian academician N. N. Sirotinin. [2] While researching the respiratory function of the stomach and the possibility of filling the body with oxygen through the digestive tract, Soviet doctors put probes into the patients' stomachs, through which the body could be filled with up to 2 liters of oxygen. Although the condition of the patients improved considerably, this method had to be abandoned because of discomfort caused by the probes. In an alternative treatment, a foam-forming liquid was filled with oxygen and transferred to the patient's mouth via a tube. Later, researches suggested adding the oxygen foam into food or drink. Such oxygen-enriched drinks received the name “oxygen cocktail” and were produced in sanatoriums and clinics. Since the 1970s, the method of making such drinks has undergone almost no changes, but the foam-forming ingredients and the ways of filling the cocktails with oxygen have been improved. [3]
Juices (grape, cherry, raspberry, etc.), syrups, water, milk and fruit-drinks are often used as the base of the cocktail. Oily and sparkling liquids result in poor homogeneity of the foam. The base liquid might contain extracts of plants and herbs such as hawthorn, strawflower, motherwort and rose hip, which themselves are used in the clinical practices. An essential element of the oxygen cocktail is the foaming agent, such as gelatin egg white or liquorice. Initially, oxygen cocktails were made with egg white. However clinical trials proved that this ingredient resulted in allergenicity and unpleasant taste and could promote infectious diseases; thus it was replaced by liquorice, which is a foaming agent, tonic and sedative. [3] [4]
After entering the intestines, the oxygen from the cocktail allegedly absorbs into the blood, [3] where it stimulates metabolism, blood circulation, redox and the immune system. [1] The activated metabolism also stimulates the digesting of other cocktail's ingredients, thereby enhancing their medical action.
The use of oxygen cocktail for medical rehabilitation was allegedly studied at the gynecological department of medical rehabilitation of the "Research Center of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology". It was demonstrated that using the oxygen cocktails as a part of the complex therapy of adults, children and teenagers with inflammations of uterine appendages, optimized metabolism and activated antioxidants in the blood plasma, thereby improving the general condition of the patients. This result was confirmed in other Russian clinics. [5] [6]
In 2005 the Research Center of Children's Health (Russian Academy of Medical Sciences) studied the efficiency of the oxygen cocktails as a part of the complex therapy of children and teenagers with chronic diseases of the respiratory and digestive tracts. Patients took 200 mL of the oxygen cocktail per day. It was concluded that the oxygen cocktail activates metabolism, reduces fatigue and stimulates efficiency and the immune system without visible side effects. Improvement was observed for all patients with respiratory diseases and 85% of the children having digestive tract problems. [7] The efficiency of the oxygen cocktail in prevention and therapy of placental deficiency and fetal hypoxia was proved during the 2006 study at the obstetrics and gynecology department of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia. [8]
As a result of these studies, it was suggested that the oxygen cocktail
Pubmed (as in 2022) gives nine papers on a search query "oxygen cocktail", all are in Russian (and published in Russian journals), four of them have English abstracts. Two of these studies weren't aimed to have control groups, [9] [10] the two others assessed oxygen cocktails in a combination of additional measures that included many other different techniques. [11] [12]
In Russia, oxygen cocktails are prescribed for expecting mothers, sportsmen, children and teenagers, people living in poor ecological conditions or experiencing hypoxia, cardiovascular system and digestive tract diseases, having problems with the immune system, insomnia, chronic fatigue syndrome and excessive body weight.
The contraindications of the oxygen cocktail are:
In Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, people consume Russian branded oxygen cocktails to protect themselves from yearly winter smog, and the Head of a WHO's Department Maria Neira criticized that practice as scientifically unproven. [13]
Hypoxia is a condition in which the body or a region of the body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply at the tissue level. Hypoxia may be classified as either generalized, affecting the whole body, or local, affecting a region of the body. Although hypoxia is often a pathological condition, variations in arterial oxygen concentrations can be part of the normal physiology, for example, during strenuous physical exercise.
Meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS) also known as neonatal aspiration of meconium is a medical condition affecting newborn infants. It describes the spectrum of disorders and pathophysiology of newborns born in meconium-stained amniotic fluid (MSAF) and have meconium within their lungs. Therefore, MAS has a wide range of severity depending on what conditions and complications develop after parturition. Furthermore, the pathophysiology of MAS is multifactorial and extremely complex which is why it is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in term infants.
Respiratory failure results from inadequate gas exchange by the respiratory system, meaning that the arterial oxygen, carbon dioxide, or both cannot be kept at normal levels. A drop in the oxygen carried in the blood is known as hypoxemia; a rise in arterial carbon dioxide levels is called hypercapnia. Respiratory failure is classified as either Type 1 or Type 2, based on whether there is a high carbon dioxide level, and can be acute or chronic. In clinical trials, the definition of respiratory failure usually includes increased respiratory rate, abnormal blood gases, and evidence of increased work of breathing. Respiratory failure causes an altered state of consciousness due to ischemia in the brain.
Shortness of breath (SOB), also medically known as dyspnea or dyspnoea, is an uncomfortable feeling of not being able to breathe well enough. The American Thoracic Society defines it as "a subjective experience of breathing discomfort that consists of qualitatively distinct sensations that vary in intensity", and recommends evaluating dyspnea by assessing the intensity of its distinct sensations, the degree of distress and discomfort involved, and its burden or impact on the patient's activities of daily living. Distinct sensations include effort/work to breathe, chest tightness or pain, and "air hunger". The tripod position is often assumed to be a sign.
Ischemia or ischaemia is a restriction in blood supply to any tissue, muscle group, or organ of the body, causing a shortage of oxygen that is needed for cellular metabolism. Ischemia is generally caused by problems with blood vessels, with resultant damage to or dysfunction of tissue i.e. hypoxia and microvascular dysfunction. It also implies local hypoxia in a part of a body resulting from constriction.
Oxygen therapy, also referred to as supplemental oxygen, is the use of oxygen as medical treatment. Supplemental oxygen can also refer to the use of oxygen enriched air at altitude. Acute indications for therapy include hypoxemia, carbon monoxide toxicity and cluster headache. It may also be prophylactically given to maintain blood oxygen levels during the induction of anesthesia. Oxygen therapy is often useful in chronic hypoxemia caused by conditions such as severe COPD or cystic fibrosis. Oxygen can be delivered via nasal cannula, face mask, or endotracheal intubation at normal atmospheric pressure, or in a hyperbaric chamber. It can also be given through bypassing the airway, such as in ECMO therapy.
Polycythemia is a laboratory finding in which the hematocrit and/or hemoglobin concentration are increased in the blood. Polycythemia is sometimes called erythrocytosis, and there is significant overlap in the two findings, but the terms are not the same: polycythemia describes any increase in hematocrit and/or hemoglobin, while erythrocytosis describes an increase specifically in the number of red blood cells in the blood.
Generalized hypoxia is a medical condition in which the tissues of the body are deprived of the necessary levels of oxygen due to an insufficient supply of oxygen, which may be due to the composition or pressure of the breathing gas, decreased lung ventilation, or respiratory disease, any of which may cause a lower than normal oxygen content in the arterial blood, and consequently a reduced supply of oxygen to all tissues perfused by the arterial blood. This usage is in contradistinction to localized hypoxia, in which only an associated group of tissues, usually with a common blood supply, are affected, usually due to an insufficient or reduced blood supply to those tissues. Generalized hypoxia is also used as a synonym for hypoxic hypoxia This is not to be confused with hypoxemia, which refers to low levels of oxygen in the blood, although the two conditions often occur simultaneously, since a decrease in blood oxygen typically corresponds to a decrease in oxygen in the surrounding tissue. However, hypoxia may be present without hypoxemia, and vice versa, as in the case of infarction. Several other classes of medical hypoxia exist.
Respiratory acidosis is a state in which decreased ventilation (hypoventilation) increases the concentration of carbon dioxide in the blood and decreases the blood's pH.
Aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD), also called NSAID-exacerbated respiratory disease (N-ERD) or historically aspirin-induced asthma and Samter's Triad, is a long-term disease defined by three simultaneous symptoms: asthma, chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps, and intolerance of aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Compared to aspirin tolerant patients, AERD patients' asthma and nasal polyps are generally more severe. Reduction or loss of the ability to smell is extremely common, occurring in more than 90% of people with the disease. AERD most commonly begins in early- to mid-adulthood and has no known cure. While NSAID intolerance is a defining feature of AERD, avoidance of NSAIDs does not affect the onset, development or perennial nature of the disease.
Exercise intolerance is a condition of inability or decreased ability to perform physical exercise at the normally expected level or duration for people of that age, size, sex, and muscle mass. It also includes experiences of unusually severe post-exercise pain, fatigue, nausea, vomiting or other negative effects. Exercise intolerance is not a disease or syndrome in and of itself, but can result from various disorders.
Pulmonary fibrosis is a condition in which the lungs become scarred over time. Symptoms include shortness of breath, a dry cough, feeling tired, weight loss, and nail clubbing. Complications may include pulmonary hypertension, respiratory failure, pneumothorax, and lung cancer.
Anemia of chronic disease (ACD) or anemia of chronic inflammation is a form of anemia seen in chronic infection, chronic immune activation, and malignancy. These conditions all produce elevation of interleukin-6, which stimulates hepcidin production and release from the liver. Hepcidin production and release shuts down ferroportin, a protein that controls export of iron from the gut and from iron storing cells. As a consequence, circulating iron levels are reduced. Other mechanisms may also play a role, such as reduced erythropoiesis. It is also known as anemia of inflammation, or anemia of inflammatory response.
Fungal pneumonia is an infection of the lungs by fungi. It can be caused by either endemic or opportunistic fungi or a combination of both. Case mortality in fungal pneumonias can be as high as 90% in immunocompromised patients, though immunocompetent patients generally respond well to anti-fungal therapy.
Pneumonitis describes general inflammation of lung tissue. Possible causative agents include radiation therapy of the chest, exposure to medications used during chemo-therapy, the inhalation of debris, aspiration, herbicides or fluorocarbons and some systemic diseases. If unresolved, continued inflammation can result in irreparable damage such as pulmonary fibrosis.
Acute severe asthma, also known as status asthmaticus, is an acute exacerbation of asthma that does not respond to standard treatments of bronchodilators (inhalers) and corticosteroids. Asthma is caused by multiple genes, some having protective effect, with each gene having its own tendency to be influenced by the environment although a genetic link leading to acute severe asthma is still unknown. Symptoms include chest tightness, rapidly progressive dyspnea, dry cough, use of accessory respiratory muscles, fast and/or labored breathing, and extreme wheezing. It is a life-threatening episode of airway obstruction and is considered a medical emergency. Complications include cardiac and/or respiratory arrest. The increasing prevalence of atopy and asthma remains unexplained but may be due to infection with respiratory viruses.
Chalicosis is a form of pneumoconiosis affecting the lungs or bronchioles, found mainly among stonecutters. The disease is caused by the inhalation of fine particles of stone. The term is from Greek, χάλιξ, gravel.
Erdosteine is a molecule with mucolytic activity. Structurally it is a thiol derivative characterized by the presence of two thiol groups. These two functional sulfhydryl groups contained in the molecule are released following first-pass metabolism with the conversion of erdosteine into its pharmacologically active metabolite Met-I.
Inosine pranobex is an antiviral drug that is a combination of inosine and dimepranol acedoben in a ratio of 1 to 3. It is used primarily in European countries, especially as a treatment for acute viral infections, such as the common cold.
Bovhyaluronidase azoximer, sold under the brand name Longidaze, is a conjugate of proteolytic enzyme hyaluronidase with high- molecular weight copolymer that forms a component of combination therapy regimens for treatment and prevention of diseases associated with connective tissue hyperplasia. The most frequently observed adverse reactions seen with bovhyaluronidase azoximer include pain at site of injection and injection site reactions such as skin redness, itching and oedema. Local reactions typicaly resolve themselves in 48–72 hours.