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Are Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatments Worth The Risk to Increase Longevity?

By Jeffrey J. Downey, attorney, serving Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia

Has the Fountain of Youth been found?  Well, if you recall your school classes, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon was said to have found it, but history has told us otherwise. https://www.history.com/news/the-myth-of-ponce-de-leon-and-the-fountain-of-youth.   For many, it is the eternal quest to stay young, and a recent study out of Israel may indicate that medical treatment is progressing towards finding the key for longevity in the form of hyperbaric oxygen treatments.

A new study from Tel Aviv University (TAU) the Shamir Medical Center in Israel indicates that hyperbaric oxygen treatments in healthy aging adults can stop the aging of blood cells and reverse the aging process.  Simply put, the adults’ blood cells actually grow younger as the treatments progress.

According to the study, using high-pressure oxygen in a pressure chamber;

  • Reverses the shortening of telomeres (protective regions located and both ends of every chromosome) lengthening the telomeres by 20-38 percent;
  • Reverses the accumulation of old and malfunctioning cells by 11-37 percent.

The variance in percentages is due to cell type differential.

The paper was published in Aging in November 2020.

Professor Shai Efrati of the Sackler School of Medicine and the Sagol School of Neuroscience at TAU and Founder and Director of the Sagol Center of Hyperbaric Medicine at the Shamir Medical Center referred to the  “Holy Grail” of the biology of aging.  35 healthy individuals aged 64 or over had 60 hyperbaric sessions over a period of three months.

This study is fascinating and should be followed with clinical trials to test the most effective and safest methods of treatment, explains elder attorney Jeffrey J. Downey.  This research is consistent with similar research showing how Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy improves the outcome for patients suffering traumatic brain injuries. The science regarding increasing longevity is now starting to take off with therapies and treatments like male hormones injections and blood transfusions with stem cells.  We all need to understand that the marketing of these interventions may be far in front of the proven efficacy of these treatments,  explains Downey, which are not yet regulated by the FDA.   However, this study is an important step in the direction of verifying a legitimate method of using Hyperbaric oxygen to reduce cellular aging.  However, it will be a long time before we see this treatment in nursing homes.

Potential patients need to understand that this procedure, which involves being exposure to high concentrations of oxygen under pressure, can cause damage to the ear, the eye (in the form of cataracts)and even the lungs if you have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Whether this is the “Holy Grail” of biology or the “Fountain of Youth,” time will tell.  However, in the meantime, the two best ways to extend life remain the same.  A healthy lifestyle, health diet and regular exercise.

If you have a loved one in a nursing home or assisted living facility who has been injured, contact the law office of Jeffrey J. Downey, P.C., for a free consultation.

Contact Information:

Law Office of Jeffrey J. Downey, PC
8270 Greensboro Drive, Suite 810
McLean, VA  22102
Phone: 703-564-7318

Email: jdowney@jeffdowney.com
On the web at www.jeffdowney.com

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