Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy may help Obesity

Preliminary studies in mice have confirmed potential benefits for obesity. Here in this study, they focused on diabetic obese mice that had fatty liver disease. This is a population base that is on a significant rise for humans. The mice that were given hyperbaric oxygenation therapy, had a significantly lower body weight than those of the control group. The authors concluded that HBOT has the advantage of improving obesity in patients with metabolic syndrome. The only disadvantage was greater oxidative damage that would occur in the liver. This could easily be rectified with proper dosing of oxygen and proper nutritional therapy for antioxidant protection at the time of delivery. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, has already been researched for helping the diabetic population, in many ways (like wound healing, cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, blood sugar control, and much more); Now, we can add metabolic syndrome to the equation <view study>

High Fat Diet? — Managing Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

High-fat diets are an ongoing concern in today’s society, contributing to the rapid rise in rates of obesity and metabolic syndrome, both of which are serious health issues to human beings.

During this study, mice were treated with high-fat diets and observed to have a multitude of adverse effects, including an increase in their body/fat tissue weight, blood fatty acid levels, and a decrease in their circulation and skeletal muscle L-carnitine levels. More importantly, the addition of hyperbaric oxygen therapy reversed these negative changes.

Hyperbaric Oxygen’s ability to help the body correct the harmful changes caused by high-fat diets allows this treatment to be “a promising physical therapy for the management of metabolic syndrome and obesity”. <view study>

Low pressure hyperbaric therapy shown effective in helping metabolic syndrome and reducing cardiac risks

A new study in the Journal of atherosclerosis and thrombosis published this year shows that low pressure hyperbaric oxygen therapy can be a very effective tool for helping those suffering from metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions — increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist, and abnormal cholesterol or triglyceride levels — that occur together, increasing your risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. This study looked at only 1.25 ATA (low pressure hyperbarics) and found that this dosage was effective enough to produce a lowering of blood sugars, blood pressure, total cholesterol, and insulin. Many other positive benefits were noted <view study>

Aging and obesity related cognitive decline restored by hyperbaric oxygen therapy

The combination of aging and obesity play major factors in the accelerated aging and degeneration of the brain. Commonly seen symptoms are characterized by problems with memory, language, thinking or judgment.

In this study, a simple 2 week course of hyperbaric oxygen therapy was shown to be effective in restoring cognitive function. The protocol used was 2.0 ATA, 80 minutes daily, for 14 days. The researchers noted that “HBOT restored insulin sensitivity, hippocampal functions, cognition in aging and aging-obese models” in this study done on rats <view study>

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy induces brown adipose tissue making it a potential tool for metabolic disorders

Human brown adipose tissue (BAT) can be activated to increase glucose uptake and energy expenditure, making it a potential target for treating obesity and metabolic disease. Brown fat produces heat to help maintain your body temperature in cold conditions and its glucose uptake is ~8-fold higher than that of skeletal muscles, on average, per gram of tissue during mild cold exposure

In this animal study, a 7 day course of hyperbaric oxygen therapy was able to cause an increase glucose uptake while also inducing BAT development, leading the authors to conclude that “HBO therapy as a novel method of inducing BAT development, considering its therapeutic potential for the treatment of metabolic disorders”. view study