7

Hydrogen Peroxide in Medicine

The first medical use of hydrogen peroxide was reported by I. N. Love, M.D., a consulting physician to City Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, in the March 3, 1888, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association under the title “Peroxide of Hydrogen as a Remedial Agent.” The article, based on a talk given to the St. Louis Medical Society the previous month, related Dr. Love’s success in treating patients with a variety of diseases, including scarlet fever, diphtheria, nasal catarrh, acute coryza (head catarrh), whooping cough, asthma, hay fever, and tonsillitis. In these cases, treatment primarily involved administering a diluted solution of hydrogen peroxide into the nostrils with a syringe. Dr. Love commented: “From its very nature this agent should be a powerful antiseptic and a destroyer of microbes; anything which accomplishes oxidation as rapidly, if it can be applied safely, must be an excellent application to purulent surfaces for its cleansing effect.” The author also mentioned its use (unsuccessfully) in treating diabetes and addressed possible clinical applications in treating some forms of atonic dyspepsia and gonorrhea. Dr. Love observed: “The beneficial effect of the application was apparent, all the distressing symptoms were much abated, and within three or four days they had passed away.” Dr. Love also documented the use of hydrogen peroxide in treating uterine cancer as a “cleanser, deodorizer and stimulator of healing.”1

Later that year, P. R. Cortelyou, M.D., reported his clinical experience with hydrogen peroxide to treat disorders of the throat and nose at the annual meeting of the Medical Society of Georgia. Dr. Cortelyou diluted hydrogen peroxide and used the fluid as a fine spray to treat people with chronic pharyngitis, rhinitis, cough, sore throat, tonsillitis, and diphtheria. In some cases, Dr. Cortelyou used hydrogen peroxide in combination with other medicines of the time, including “muriate of cocaine” and a solution made with iodine, potash, and glycerin. After treating a woman suffering from severe cough and high fever with this combination for four weeks, the doctor reported: “The throat was feeling so much better that the treatment was only given twice a week, and patient has kept in good condition all winter.”2

The first known use of intravenous hydrogen peroxide was reported by British physician T. H. Oliver in 1920. In India the previous year, he had treated twenty-five patients who were critically ill with influenzal pneumonia by injecting hydrogen peroxide directly into their veins. Compared with a death rate of over 80 percent with this disease, Oliver’s patients had a mortality rate of only 48 percent.3 Although this method of hydrogen peroxide delivery can cause gas embolism, a condition that can obstruct blood vessels and may lead to a stroke, this apparently did not occur in any of the patients treated, probably because he performed a very slow infusion.

In the United States, studies with hydrogen peroxide were conducted by noted German chemist and physician William Frederick Koch in the 1920s with cancer patients. Dr. Koch used a substance he called glyoxylide, which is believed to be the same oxygen found in hydrogen peroxide. Rather than using intravenous administration like Dr. Oliver, he preferred giving the substance intramuscularly.

Although his treatments were successful, Dr. Koch was later sued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He was acquitted, but he decided to leave the United States and continue his research in Brazil. He died there in 1967.4

In the early 1960s, major studies in the medical uses of hydrogen peroxide were conducted at Baylor University Medical Center in Texas. In an early study involving cancer, researchers found that cells containing a high amount of oxygen responded more favorably to radiation therapy than ordinary cells. Before that study, hyperbaric oxygen was often used by physicians to oxygenate the cells; in a rather cumbersome and expensive method using a specially built oxygen chamber, oxygen was delivered under a pressure greater than the normal atmospheric pressure. However, the doctors at Baylor found that small amounts of hydrogen peroxide injected into a vein could achieve the same effect as hyperbaric oxygen at a much lower cost and with fewer adverse side effects.

The Baylor researchers also discovered that hydrogen peroxide has an energizing effect on the heart muscle that could be of great benefit to patients suffering heart attacks. Myocardial ischemia, or lack of oxygen to the heart muscle, was relieved with hydrogen peroxide.5 Writing in the journal Circulation, Dr. H. C. Urschel Jr. reported that ventricular fibrillation—a life-threatening condition involving extremely rapid, incomplete contractions of the ventricle area of the heart—was completely relieved through the intravenous administration of hydrogen peroxide.6

Researchers at Baylor also studied the effect of intravenous hydrogen peroxide on the accumulation of plaque in the arteries. They found that not only could hydrogen peroxide remove plaque buildup efficiently, but its effects were long-term.7 While these findings offered hope to individuals destined for expensive, dangerous, and often ineffective heart bypass operations, the Baylor studies were largely ignored by the medical establishment. They will be presented in more detail in part 2 of this book.

Perhaps the most important medical research in hydrogen peroxide therapy during the 1990s can be credited to Charles H. Farr of Oklahoma, who held doctorate degrees in both pharmacology and medicine. Dr. Farr was among the first to suggest the clinical benefits of treating illnesses with hydrogen peroxide injected intravenously, and he conducted more clinical research in the fields of chelation therapy and hydrogen peroxide therapy than anyone else. In addition to having written over thirty-five scientific and medical articles and books, he was the founder of the International Oxidative Medicine Association.

Dr. Farr’s work in hydrogen peroxide, like that of many pioneers who have researched the value of the medical applications of ozone, has been largely ignored by the scientific and medical establishment in the United States and Canada. However, his work has been carefully evaluated by eminent scientists abroad. He wrote:

When hydrogen peroxide and/or ozone are used as therapeutic agents, it soon becomes obvious that they are useful in treating a wide variety of seemingly unrelated conditions. Since most of us have come to think in terms of “one cause, one disease, one cure,” we have difficulty accepting the idea that a broad-scope panacea may have been discovered. Yet the concept that hydrogen peroxide, for example, may indeed be a panacea is not so far-fetched when we begin exploring the role of the substance in body metabolism.8

HOW DOES IT WORK?

We mentioned before that hydrogen peroxide is both an effective oxygenator and a powerful oxidizer. Numerous physiological effects of hydrogen peroxide have been described in medical and scientific literature for over sixty years.

On the Lungs

Hydrogen peroxide helps stimulate the process of oxygenation in the lungs by increasing blood flow so that blood has more contact with air; it also helps red blood cells and hemoglobin carry oxygen to the cells of the lungs. This helps remove foreign material, including dead and damaged tissue, from the alveoli, the tiny air sacs in the lungs where oxygen is taken into the bloodstream.

On Metabolism

A number of hormonal effects are regulated by the actions of hydrogen peroxide, including the production of progesterone and thyroxine as well as the inhibition of bioamines, dopamine, noradrenaline, and serotonin. Hydrogen peroxide also stimulates (either directly or indirectly) certain oxidative enzyme systems. Enzymes are complex proteins that are able to bring about chemical changes in other substances; digestive enzymes, for example, are able to break down foods into simpler compounds that the body can use for nourishment.

On the Heart and Circulatory System

Hydrogen peroxide can dilate (expand) blood vessels in the heart, the extremities, the brain, and the lungs. It is also able to decrease heart rate, increase stroke volume (the amount of blood pumped by the left ventricle of the heart at each beat), and decrease vascular resistance (which makes it easier for blood to move through the blood vessels). As a result, it can increase total cardiac output.

On Sugar (Glucose) Utilization

Hydrogen peroxide is said to mimic the effects of insulin and has been able to stabilize cases of diabetes mellitus type 2.

On Immune Response

As previously mentioned, granulocytes are a type of white blood cell that the body uses to fight infections. When the body is infused with hydrogen peroxide, the number of granulocytes in the body first goes down but then increases beyond the original number.

Intravenous treatment with hydrogen peroxide has also been found to stimulate the formation of monocytes, a type of white blood cell that scavenges, hunts, and kills bacteria; stimulate helper T cells (white blood cells that orchestrate the immune response and signal other cells in the immune system to perform their special functions); and help increase the production of gamma interferon, a protein found when cells are exposed to viruses, as well as cytokines (cellular messengers) that promote healing. Noninfected cells that are exposed to interferon become protected against viral infection.9

According to Dr. Farr:

Hydrogen peroxide is manufactured by the body and is maintained at a constant level throughout our life. It is part of a system that helps the body regulate living cell membranes. It is a hormonal regulator, necessary for the body to produce several hormonal substances such as estrogen, progesterone, and thyroxine. It is vital for the regulation of blood sugar and the production of energy in all body cells.

Hydrogen peroxide helps regulate certain chemicals to operate the brain and nervous system. It has a stimulatory and regulatory effect on the immune system and may either directly or indirectly kill viruses, bacteria, parasites, yeast, fungi, and a variety of harmful organisms. Our studies demonstrate a positive metabolic effect of an intravenous infusion of hydrogen peroxide. Its ability to oxidize almost any physiological and pathological substance, in addition to producing increased tissue and cellular oxygen tensions, has proved to have therapeutic value.10

WHAT DISEASES CAN HYDROGEN PEROXIDE TREAT?

Low-grade (3 percent) hydrogen peroxide is well known to most of us. When we apply it externally to an open wound, hydrogen peroxide produces a bubbling sensation, which is just the oxygen coming out of solution. However, few people know about the wide range of therapeutic possibilities of 30 percent reagent-grade or 35 percent food-grade hydrogen peroxide when diluted and taken internally as oxidative therapy.

Like ozone, hydrogen peroxide can treat a broad spectrum of diseases because it kills bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses. It can also destroy certain tumor cells. According to Dr. Farr, the following diseases have been clinically treated with intravenous hydrogen peroxide with varying degrees of success.

acute and chronic viral
infections

allergies

Alzheimer’s disease

angina

asthma

cardiac arrhythmias
(irregular heartbeat)

cardioconversion
(heart stoppage)

cardiovascular disease
(heart disease)

cerebral vascular disease
(stroke and memory loss)

chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease

chronic pain syndromes
(from various causes)

chronic recurrent
Epstein-Barr infection

chronic unresponsive
bacterial infections

cluster headaches

diabetes mellitus type 2

emphysema

herpes simplex
(fever blister)

herpes zoster
(shingles)

HIV-related infections

influenza

metastatic carcinoma
(cancer)

migraine headaches

multiple sclerosis

parasitic infections

Parkinson’s disease

peripheral vascular disease
(poor circulation)

rheumatoid arthritis

systemic chronic candidiasis
(yeast infections)

temporal arteritis
(inflammation of the
temporal artery)

vascular headaches11

Hydrogen peroxide is the reactive oxygen species most damaging to human spermatozoa. This has led Indian researchers at the Department of Reproductive Biomedicine at the National Institute of Health and Family Welfare in New Delhi to explore the possible use of hydrogen peroxide as an active ingredient in a water-based contraceptive gel. In a study with rats carried out in 2002, they found that 2 percent hydrogen peroxide in a 0.9 percent solution of sodium chloride showed 100 percent efficiency in mating studies two hours after vaginal application.12 Though the results are promising, one should not attempt to duplicate these findings at home.

H2O2  AND HONEY

The use of honey in healing goes back thousands of years. It is used to treat a broad range of health problems such as wounds, ulcers, diabetes, and infections, including those resistant to antibiotics. Several of these infections even include “superbugs” like MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. As mentioned in my book The Honey Prescription (Healing Arts Press, 2010), there has been an explosion in scientific research on the medicinal uses of honey at universities, research centers, and medical clinics around the world.

Although honey’s ability to draw fluids out of wounds through osmosis and its low Ph (which kills bacteria) are factors in its healing abilities, honey also contains hydrogen peroxide. Bees secrete an enzyme, called glucose oxidase, from their hypopharyngeal gland into the nectar, where it catalyzes glucose into gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide. It is believed that the hydrogen peroxide is used as a sterilizing agent during the honey’s ripening process.

It’s interesting to note that full-strength honey has a negligible level of hydrogen peroxide because this substance is short-lived in the presence of the transition metal ions and ascorbic acid found in honey, which cause the hydrogen peroxide to decompose to oxygen and water. Glucose oxydase has been found to be practically inactive in full-strength honey, giving rise to hydrogen peroxide only when the honey is diluted. This often takes place when honey is applied to the skin or to other parts of the body where moisture—even in tiny amounts—is present.

Dr. Katrina Brudzynski of the Department of Biological Sciences at Brock University in Ontario studied forty-two samples of Canadian honey to determine their antibacterial potential against strains of Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. After tabulating the results, she concluded: “These data indicate that all Canadian honeys exhibited antibacterial activity, with higher selectivity against E. coli than B. subtilis, and that these antibacterial activities were correlated with hydrogen peroxide production in honeys. The hydrogen peroxide level in honey, therefore, is a strong predictor of the honey’s antibacterial activity.”13

When it comes to clearing infections, honey supplies low levels of hydrogen peroxide to wounds continuously over time as opposed to a large amount at the moment of treatment. In essence, it becomes a powerful yet effective slow-release antiseptic at a level that is antibacterial but does not damage tissue. In an article published in Archives of Medical Research on the activity of honey against medically significant bacteria by members of the School of Biomedical Sciences at Charles Sturt University in Australia, the authors note: “The mild acidity and low-level hydrogen peroxide release assists both tissue repair and contributes to the antibacterial activity of honey. The antibacterial activity is a major factor in promoting wound healing where infection is present.”14

Dilution with water has not been found to seriously inhibit hydrogen peroxide production in honey, an important factor to consider when treating exuding wounds. In a study carried out at the Honey Research Unit at the University of Waikato in New Zealand, eight honey samples from six different floral sources were tested. The maximum levels of accumulated hydrogen peroxide occurred in solutions diluted to concentrations of between 30 percent and 50 percent. The authors concluded: “Significant antibacterial activity can be maintained easily when using honey as a wound dressing, even on a heavily exuding wound.”15

Pasteurization destroys the enzymes that produce hydrogen peroxide, so any honey used therapeutically should be raw and unpasteurized. The honey should be stored in a cool place and away from light. If it is necessary to liquefy honey, it should be heated at a temperature no higher than 37°C (98.6°F).

We will see later on that hydrogen peroxide is playing an increasing role in dentistry and oral hygiene, as well in treating skin and gynecological problems. Treatment protocols are under investigation for many other health problems, including Legionnaire’s disease, candidiasis, salmonella poisoning, Pneumocystis jiroveci (AIDS-related pneumonia), Toxoplasma gondii, malaria, cytomegalovirus, HIV infection, and Ehrlich ascites carcinoma.