Topic: Hydrogen peroxyde

[vikki_400]

Hi

I am currently doing a degree in Biology with the Open University and I was looking at the online uni forum and stumbled across this:

"this has nothing to do with our study content but is just a curiosity and maybe here there is someone who can give some more information.

I am reading an e-book 'The one minute cure' which explains the almost miraculously properties of assuming hydrogen peroxyde. The claim is that it can cure a wide range of disease going from headaches up to neurological diseases, AIDS and some types of cancers.

I am obviously very skeptic about this claim but I feel like it requires further investigations. Does anyone knows more about this topic?"

I am skeptical about this topic (a lot more than the OP) but when I look on the net I can't find any more useful information. I have responded back suggesting that is it unlikely that the author of the book has stumbled onto a cure for everything and if they had, publishing it in a book is not the best way to present it to the medical establishment, but I wanted to go back with a bit more. Does anyone have any background on this?

Vikki

[Anders]

Hydrogen peroxide is highly toxic to living tissue, so we have powerful defenses against it. The enzyme catalase takes care of hydrogen peroxide quickly, safely and efficiently. Unless you take enormous doses, it will be broken down long before it reaches the blood stream (which is a very good thing).

But, yes, it's also toxic to bacteria, fungi, parasites, as well. That's why they also have catalase...

[Trinoc]

Weak hydrogen peroxide (1% or less) is quite a good mouthwash and gargle, because as Anders said it kills bacteria. Swallowing small amounts of this concentration would probably do no harm as it would almost certainly dissociate into water and oxygen on contact with the gunk in the stomach, resulting in nothing worse than an oxygen burp.

I don't know of any way it could get into the body as a whole from the stomach, even if it could cure anything if it got there. Since peroxide radicals are generally regarded as a bad thing (they are the sorts of things antioxidants clear up), I can't see how it would do anything but harm if it could get into the body.

I have a friend who swears his prostate cancer was partly cured by drinking a mixture of H₂O₂ and Vitamin C. That's right .. an oxidizing agent mixed with an antioxidant. Nothing will convince him that this (and other alternative medicine for which he paid a fortune) probably had nothing to do with what was (we hope) a spontaneous remission.

H₂O₂ sold in chemist's shops for hair bleaching etc., is usually rated as "10 volumes" (3%) or "20 volumes" (6%), so needs diluting by a factor of at least 3 or 6 respectively for use as a mouthwash. This stuff often contains some phosphoric acid, which is probably not great to rinse with but it's in Coca Cola so it can't be too dangerous.

Stronger H₂O₂, particularly the 35% stuff sold online as "food grade" is harmful to touch and very dangerous to swallow or even use as a mouthwash. I wonder how many people who have bought this have not realised it should be diluted by at least 1 part in 34 parts of water.

Incidentally, "food grade" does not mean it is safe for consumption (diluted or otherwise), it just means it's OK to use for cleaning food preparation surfaces such as kitchen worktops (but wear heavy duty rubber gloves!).

[Anders]

I think the main effect from drinking it - as long as you stick to 1% - is that you'll burp a lot.

[DK]

Is it just me, or does this have some shades of the Humble/Miracle Mineral Solution scam to it?

He claimed to be able to cure all sorts of things with his bleach as well.

[vikki_400]

That was my first thought, its sounds quite similar. I did post a link to the Guardian article where they interviewed Rhys Morgan. I was hoping that they would see the similarity and question it a bit more.

[♫♪ FX ♪♫]

      If you are nuts enough to drink it, do not drink hydrogen peroxide unless it is free of additives.

http://www.h2o2-4u.com/grades.html

[khendar]

I use dilute hydrogen peroxide as a sanitiser for homebrewing. It comes as a 3% solution and you dilute it further with 30mL/L (I can't math today, I have the dumb - I think that makes it a .1% solution?). It decomposes spontaneously into water and oxygen, meaning that you can swish it around a container and not have to worry about rinsing it.

[daemonowner]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_peroxide#Alternative_uses

[jds22]

Former peroxide drinker here. I was a true believer in alt med about a decade ago. I read the articles about it being a cure all and believed every word of it. I ordered a bottle of 35% food grade solution and would mix a few drops in a glass of water every day, you know, for "optimal" health.      I did this for a month or so.

After I stopped using it I decided to do some research into whether or not it really works. Long story short, this led me to the Quackwatch site, which led to Quackcast, which led to Skeptoid, which led to Skeptics Guide, which led to my eventual rejection of alt med, superstition, and religion.

So in a way, I guess you could say H2O2 was a cure all.