Vitality Unleashed: The Functional Medicine Podcast

The Natural Performance Booster

• Dr. Kumar from LifeWellMD.com • Season 1 • Episode 127

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Pushing through physical limits might feel impossible when you hit that wall - lungs burning, muscles screaming for relief. But what if there was a legitimate way to significantly boost your endurance without crossing ethical lines?

The science behind ozone therapy for athletic performance is nothing short of remarkable. Recent research with Turkish National League football players revealed a stunning 28% increase in VO2 max among athletes receiving ozone treatment compared to just 12% improvement in those following the same training regimen without it. This translates to a 20% longer maximum running time - a game-changing edge for any competitive athlete or fitness enthusiast.

Unlike traditional performance enhancers that artificially manipulate blood composition, ozone therapy works by triggering your body's natural physiological responses. Through a process called major auto-hemotherapy, a small amount of blood is mixed with medical-grade ozone and reinfused, enhancing tissue oxygenation, reducing inflammation, and optimizing your body's own systems. This crucial distinction has led many experts to classify it not as doping but as a natural physiological optimizer - a position supported by USADA's handling of UFC fighter Ilan Kutlaba's case, where he was ultimately cleared after review.

The implications extend beyond elite athletes. Whether you're training for your first marathon, looking to break through plateaus in your fitness journey, or simply wanting more energy for daily activities, this therapy represents a frontier where cutting-edge science meets natural human potential. It's about unlocking capabilities already within you, waiting to be optimized.

What other hidden potentials might be waiting inside your body? How might you exceed your own expectations with the right physiological support? The possibilities are truly exciting for anyone serious about achieving peak performance naturally.

Disclaimer:
The information provided in this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your supplement regimen or health routine. Individual needs and reactions vary, so it’s important to make informed decisions with the guidance of your physician.

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Stay Informed, Stay Healthy:
Remember, informed choices lead to better health. Until next time, be well and take care of yourself.

Speaker 1:

You know that, feeling right, you're pushing yourself hard Maybe you're training for something big like a marathon, or just hitting the gym or honestly, just trying to keep up with everyday life and you hit that point your body's just screaming, lungs burning, you hit the wall and you just wish, man, I wish I could go a bit further or recover faster, just have a little more left in the tank. Well, what if there was a way, a way to significantly boost that potential, your physical potential, naturally, physiologically, without getting into that murky world of, you know, prohibited stuff? Welcome to the Deep Dive we're brought to you by Dr Kumar's team over at LifeWellMDcom. Here we explore the real cutting edge of health, wellness and, yeah, longevity. Today we're taking a really fascinating look at something getting a lot of attention in athletic circles. It's the potential of ozone therapy to actually enhance physical performance. Some people are even calling it the doping. That's not doping. Kind of intriguing right Now.

Speaker 1:

Our main source for this deep dive today is an original research article. It's titled Doping. That Is Not a Doping Effects of Ozone Therapy in Sports. It's by Mustafa Tansil, turan, published in the Journal of Ozone Therapy. In this study it really zooms in on how ozone therapy might contribute to athletic performance. Specifically, they looked at young, active football players in the Turkish National League. So our mission today let's unpack what this study found. Let's understand how ozone therapy might actually impact performance, especially things like VO2 max and endurance, and we really need to tackle that big question when does it stand in competitive sports? Is it allowed? Get ready for some possibly surprising insights that could really change how you think about your own physical limits. Okay so, before we jump into the real nitty gritty of the study itself, maybe just a quick primer for anyone new to this what exactly is ozone therapy and why all the buzz in the sports world right now?

Speaker 2:

Sure Well, basically, ozone therapy is about administering medical grade ozone gas for different health purposes. It's getting a lot of traction because, honestly, it has some pretty remarkable effects. We're talking about inducing strong antioxidant effects, anti-inflammatory responses. It's even got antiviral and anti-infective properties. Plus, it helps modulate the immune system. It can regulate circulation and here's the key thing for athletes it significantly increases tissue oxygenation, getting more oxygen to the muscles.

Speaker 1:

Right, that sounds crucial.

Speaker 2:

Exactly, and these core benefits are why it's becoming so relevant. Plus, it's generally considered safe to administer for various applications in sports, like even aiding recovery.

Speaker 1:

And this isn't just theory, is it the study mentioned? It's being used internationally.

Speaker 2:

Oh, absolutely. The article points out that athletes are using ozone therapy to try and improve performance in places like Germany, italy, cuba, russia particularly noted among football players and even here in the USA. Although it might not have official FDA approval for this specific use across the board, the paper mentions it as well, a common method athletes are looking into for that performance edge.

Speaker 1:

Interesting.

Speaker 2:

And in Turkey. It specifically mentions that athletes trained in Europe are using it for its anti-inflammatory benefits, you know, helping them recover and keep training hard.

Speaker 1:

So clearly it's out there being used, which brings us back to the study's main point, right yeah, what was the big question they wanted to answer? Does it really boost performance or is it just talk?

Speaker 2:

Precisely that's the core question Can ozone therapy genuinely measurably increase sports performance? They wanted to find out.

Speaker 1:

OK, so to figure that out, they set up a pretty specific experiment. Walk us through the setup with these young football players. How did they do it?

Speaker 2:

Right. So the study ran for about two months. Back in the fall of 2018, september 1st and November 1st they recruited 30 young football players. These were U19 guys from the Turkish National Premier League and all were considered national team candidates. So already top-level young athletes.

Speaker 1:

Okay, serious players.

Speaker 2:

Definitely. Then they split them objectively into two equal groups. 15 players in each. One group got ozone therapy, the other was the control group. And they were really careful about balancing these groups, match them for age, playing position you know, if there was an 18-year-old goalie in one group, there was an 18-year-old goalie in the other Really tried to make them comparable, makes sense. And for the entire eight weeks both groups followed the exact same training schedule, same nutrition program, everything identical.

Speaker 1:

So the only difference was the ozone.

Speaker 2:

Exactly. The single variable was that the ozone therapy group received something called major ozone auto-hemotherapy.

Speaker 1:

Okay, what's that about?

Speaker 2:

It's a common method. They take a small amount of the athlete's blood, carefully mix it with a precise concentration of medical ozone gas and then they infuse that blood back into the athlete's bloodstream gas. And then they infused that blood back into the athlete's bloodstream. They started the ozone concentration at 20 micrograms per milliliter and then gradually increased it up to 30 over the course of the treatment.

Speaker 1:

And how often do they do this?

Speaker 2:

Twice a week for five weeks straight.

Speaker 1:

All right. So five weeks of treatment, eight weeks of study total. How did they actually measure the performance difference and this term, vo2 max? What does it actually tell us about how well someone can perform, especially for you know, our listeners thinking about their own stamina.

Speaker 2:

Good question. They use the Astrin treadmill test. It's a classic, well-respected test dating back to 1952, designed specifically to assess cardiovascular fitness. Its main goal is to track an athlete's general endurance and the key metric is VO2 max. Right, so VO2 max? Basically it's the maximum amount of oxygen your body can effectively take in and use during really intense exercise. Think of it as your body's engine capacity for aerobic work.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so higher is better, Definitely.

Speaker 2:

A higher VO2 max generally means better endurance. Your body is more efficient at using oxygen, so you can sustain effort longer and harder. It's a critical indicator for almost any endurance-based activity.

Speaker 1:

How does the test work?

Speaker 2:

The athlete runs on a treadmill. The speed is usually constant, but the incline starts flat and then increases at set time intervals, like every couple of minutes. It gets progressively harder.

Speaker 1:

Until they just can't keep going.

Speaker 2:

Exactly. The test stops when the athlete reaches exhaustion. They record the total time the athlete managed to run and then there's a formula they use, based on that time, to estimate the VO2 max. It's calculated as time in minutes X 1.444 plus 14.99.

Speaker 1:

Got it, so they measured this when.

Speaker 2:

They did the test right at the beginning to get a baseline for everyone, and then they did it again eight weeks later. That was three weeks after the five-week ozone therapy period had finished, giving some time for effects to potentially consolidate.

Speaker 1:

OK, makes sense. So the moment of truth. After all that, what did the numbers actually show? Did the ozone therapy, you know, move the needle for these guys?

Speaker 2:

The results were well. They were quite compelling. There was a really clear difference between the two groups by the end. Remember at the start they were basically identical. Average VO2 max around 51 millikilgumen for both groups and average runtime on that tough treadmill test was 25 minutes. Equal footing, right, okay? So after eight weeks let's look at the control group first. These guys just did the standard training and nutrition. They improved, which you'd expect. Their average VO2 max went up to about 54. That's roughly a 12% increase from their baseline. Pretty decent.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm fine.

Speaker 2:

And their average maximum running time increased to 28 minutes. That's about a 6% improvement, so solid gains from training.

Speaker 1:

Okay, standard improvement. Now the ozone group.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, this is where it gets interesting. The ozone therapy group. Their average VO2 max jumped to 61 millikilogumens 61 from 51. Exactly. That's a 28% increase from their baseline. Almost double the percentage increase seen in the control group Wow.

Speaker 1:

Okay, and their running time.

Speaker 2:

Their average maximum running time went up significantly too, to 32 minutes. That's a 20% increase from their starting point of 25 minutes Again way more than the 6% increase in the control group.

Speaker 1:

Okay, those are genuinely striking differences A 28% jump in VO2 max, 20% longer running time compared to 12%, and 6% for the control group doing the same training.

Speaker 2:

So for someone listening right now, maybe they're training for a race, playing a sport or honestly just wants more energy day to day. What does this actually tell them? What's the takeaway?

Speaker 1:

Well, what's really fascinating, I think, is that everyone did the same training program the intensity, the duration, the nutrition, all matched. So that big gap in improvement strongly suggests that the ozone therapy itself was the key factor. It indicates that this kind of therapy could be a really effective tool for boosting athletic performance, maybe before a big season or a competition. It's like unlocking potential that the training alone couldn't. That's a good way to put it. It's like unlocking potential that the training alone couldn't.

Speaker 2:

That's a good way to put it. It seems to unlock a level of endurance, a capacity for oxygen utilization that just doing the training at that intensity didn't achieve on its own. Think about what that means practically Potentially better stamina, being able to go harder for longer, maybe recovering quicker between bursts of effort yeah, bursts of effort. That translates directly to better performance, whether it's on a football pitch, like these guys, or on a running track or a bike, or even just feeling less winded climbing stairs. It's about optimizing your botter's own physiological systems.

Speaker 1:

Okay, but those kinds of gains, it almost sounds too good to be true, which inevitably brings up the big question the elephant in the room. If it works that well, isn't it doping?

Speaker 2:

That is absolutely the critical question and it's complex. The study tackles this directly. First, you have to look at the definition. The IOC and WADO the World Anti-Doping Agency define doping as using prohibited substances or prohibited methods that are on their current list. Now, if you look at WADto's prohibited list specifically Article M1, which deals with manipulating blood and blood components well, autohemotherapy the method used here, involves manipulating blood outside the body.

Speaker 1:

Ah, okay, so it could fall under that.

Speaker 2:

It could seem that way initially because that article prohibits things like administering blood products, artificially enhancing oxygen transport, though it excludes supplemental oxygen by inhalation and any intravascular manipulation of blood. However, the study makes a really strong case for why ozone therapy is fundamentally different from what we typically think of as doping, like blood doping with EPO or actual blood transfusions.

Speaker 1:

How is it different?

Speaker 2:

It's not directly boosting hemoglobin levels to carry more oxygen artificially. Different it's not directly boosting hemoglobin levels to carry more oxygen artificially. The argument is that ozone therapy acts more like a natural trigger. The paper describes it as a completely natural perturbation induced by small and brief oxidative stress, like those produced by the training itself, so completely physiological.

Speaker 1:

Okay, like stimulating a natural response.

Speaker 2:

Exactly. It's stimulating and supporting the body's own systems to work more efficiently, rather than introducing something artificial or directly changing blood composition for oxygen transport. It's a fine line, perhaps, but a crucial distinction in their view.

Speaker 1:

But is it settled? Does WADA agree?

Speaker 2:

Well, that's the gray area. The study mentions that many countries and institutions have actually asked WADA for a definitive ruling on ozone therapy, but as of the time of that article, those requests were apparently left unanswered. So it suggests the debate is ongoing. It's not black and white yet.

Speaker 1:

Right. So it's not quite like traditional blood doping and you mentioned there's a real world case that sort of touches on this.

Speaker 2:

Yes, exactly the case of the UFC fighter Ayan Kutlaba. It's quite relevant. Back in 2017, he apparently won a title fight, but it came out he'd been receiving regular ozone therapy during his training camp.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so what happened?

Speaker 2:

USADA, the US anti-doping agency. They reviewed his case because of the ozone therapy use. They put his competition status on hold. But here's the key part After about six months of review, they reestablished him. He was allowed back into competition and his title was actually returned to him.

Speaker 1:

Wow, so they reviewed it and didn't ultimately ban him for it.

Speaker 2:

Precisely. It shows that even after scrutiny by a major anti-doping body, it wasn't definitively classified as a prohibited method that warranted a long-term sanction in his specific case, and the study uses this to bolster its conclusion, stating there's just not enough evidences to consider ozone as a doping agent, but only a natural method able to improve the physiological release of oxygen to the tissues without affecting its transport. It emphasizes that support versus artificial enhancement idea again.

Speaker 1:

Okay, that's a fascinating distinction and a really interesting case study. So, wrapping this all together, we've seen this remarkable performance boost this unique status regarding the doping question. What's the big takeaway here for someone listening who wants peak physical condition or maybe just more vitality day to day?

Speaker 2:

Well, the core finding from this specific research is pretty clear Using major auto-hemotherapy with ozone in that mild dose range of 20 to 30 micrograms per milliliter showed a significant positive impact on the performance of these athletes. It really does seem to be a method that enhances the body's natural capabilities, letting it optimize its own performance potential. Now, naturally, the researchers themselves say more research is always good. Looking at different sports, maybe different types of athletes, larger groups, that always helps build a more complete picture, but the results here are definitely thought-provoking.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, and if you, listening right now, are looking for ways to improve your own physical performance, maybe boost that VO2 max we talked about, or even just enhance your overall wellness and longevity, understanding these kinds of innovative natural approaches, like ozone therapy, is really crucial, and this focus on cutting edge natural support that's exactly the kind of thing that Dr Kumar and the team at LifeWellMDcom specialize in. Look, don't just hear about possibilities like this. You can actually explore them. Lifewellmdcom offers truly personalized wellness journeys. They can guide you through advanced therapies, different strategies, all designed to help you reach your peak performance and your health goals. Maybe you're a serious athlete looking for that competitive edge, or maybe you're more of a weekend warrior, just wanted to feel better and have more stamina. Either way, we really encourage you to take that first step. Explore how you can optimize your body's amazing natural capabilities. Why not find out more? Call 561-210-9999 today. You can speak directly with the experts at lifewellmdcom and start planning your own personalized wellness journey. That number, again, is 561-210-9999.

Speaker 1:

So today we really uncovered some compelling evidence. It suggests ozone therapy isn't really doping in the conventional sense, but potentially acts as this powerful physiological support, something that can significantly boost athletic performance metrics like VO2 max and endurance. It seems to be about working with your body's own systems, helping them unlock potential that might already be there, just waiting to be optimized. And that leaves us with a pretty intriguing thought, doesn't it? If our bodies have these kinds of capacities for improvement through natural methods that science is starting to back up, what other hidden potentials might be waiting inside us? How can we best support our own physiology, not just to meet our goals, but maybe even to exceed our own expectations? Explore your path, your path to peak performance, to longevity. Check out LifeWellMDcom or give them a call at 561-210-9999. Learn more about how Dr Kumar and his team can help you start your wellness journey today. Thanks so much for joining us on this deep dive into the science of human potential.