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Majid Ali, M.D. |
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Editor,
The Journal of Integrative Medicine
Formerly, Associate Professor of Pathology (adj.), College
of Physicians
and Surgeons of Columbia University, NY
Formerly, President of Staff and Chief Pathologist,
Holy Name Hospital, Teaneck, NJ
Fellow, Royal
College of Surgeons of England -
Diplomate,
American Board of Anatomic and Clinical Pathology
Diplomate, American Boards of Environmental Medicine
Past President Capital University of Integrative
Medicine |
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DARWIN, DYSOX, AND OUR FERMENTING PLANET-ESSAY 2:
DYSOX AND CLIMATIC CHAOS:
The Primacy of Oxygen Issues Over Carbon Issues
Times are desperate for most forms of life on the planet Earth.
In the man-microbe conflicts, microbes are winning. That also is the case for
butterflies, bees, and bats. In my view, the reason is the changing "oxygen
conditions" of planetary life. In this series of essays on the fermenting
planet, I present my hypothesis that the primary result of the changing oxygen
conditions is impairment of oxygen-driven energy systems of humans, animals, and
plants. The oxygen-shunning species are thriving at the expense of the
oxygen-loving species. This trend has far-reaching significance for all
planetary life.
There are two predominant groups of life forms on our planet: oxyphils that
thrive in oxygen-rich environments and oxyphobes that flourish in oxygen-poor
conditions. Oxyphils include humans, all animals, and most plants while
oxyphobes comprise fungi and anaerobic bacteria. The changing oxygen conditions
are altering the balance between these groups by favoring oxyphobes over
oxyphils.
Evolution created two primary modes of cellular energetics: low-efficiency
non-oxygen-driven metabolism designated as fermentation and a high-efficiency
oxygen-driven metabolism called respiratory mode of energy generation. The
oxygen deficit over land masses and in planetary waters fosters the growth of
the fermenters as it threatens the oxygen-utilizing species.
Taken from Essay 1
Oxygen deficit is the primary threat to life on the planet Earth. Carbon excess
is a secondary threat to planetary life. I expect these words to surprise most,
if not nearly all, readers. Succinctly stated, carbon creates a mess and oxygen
cleans up that mess. This statement is also likely to raise many eyebrows,
because it might be seen as too broad and sweeping to be considered seriously.
Scientists diligently document global warming caused by carbon emissions from
fossil fuel, incremental global chemicalization, devastation of human habitat,
mass mortalities of aquatic life, and extinction of species. They tell us about
melting of polar ice caps, and cooling of oceanic conveyer belts.
Environmentalists vigorously debate issues of greenhouse gases and climatic
changes. Policy makers heatedly argue about the significance of these changes.
Politicians brazenly distort scientific facts to promote themselves. People all
over the world now recognize these looming threats and want to know what they
can do to counter those threats. These subjects have been presented at length in
several recent volumes, most notably in Blatt's America's Environmental Score
Card (2004),1 Gelnspan's Boiling Point (2004),2 Flannery's The Weather Makers
(2005),3 Gore's An Inconvenient Truth (2006),4 Kerry's This Moment on Earth
(2007),5 and Frumhoff's Confronting Climate Change in the U.S. Northeast
(2007).6 Notably absent in all those deliberations and efforts are any
considerations of the primacy of oxygen-related problems (the "oxygen concerns"
over the carbon-related issues [the "carbon concerns"]).
For decades, some scientists, environmentalists, and policy makers have sought
to protect human habitat by focusing on carbon emission and global warming.
These efforts are commendable. However, their focus on carbonin my viewmisses
the essential point: Oxygen deficit is a much more immediate and dangerous
threat to planetary life than carbon excess. In past publications, I have
systematically related derangements of oxygen signaling and oxygen-driven
cellular energetics to the pathogenesis of aging,7 obesity,8 inflammation,9
diabetes,10-12 cardiovascular disorders,13-17 asthma and atopy,18-20 renal
failure,21 pseudomenopause and related menstrual disorders,22-24 arrested growth
in children,25 liver disorders,26
fibromyalgia.27 pain,28osteoporosis,29
parasitic infestation,30 war-related chronic illness,31 malignant
disorders,32-36 Here, I address issues of climatic chaos, global warming, and
earth chemicalization issues that adversely affect global oxygen homeotasiscrucial
issues that have not been considered in the context of human disease.
What poisons plants also poisons animals and that which poisons animals also
poisons people. This is the basic chemistry of oneness that binds humans with
animal and plant kingdoms. The putative differences among species in their
responses to toxins are significant only on a small time scale. In the larger
global context, our shared vulnerability to a poisoned environment is far more
important. Anthropogenic influences are disrupting the elemental cycles of the
planet Earththe cycles of economies of oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, iron,
and essential elementsto increasing degrees. Among those disruptions, the most
important involve the oxygen cycle.
In 1998, I introduced the term
dysoxygenosis (dysox, for short) to refer to a
state of dysfunctional oxygen homeostasis characterized by deranged oxygen
signaling and impaired oxygen driven energetics.37-39 In subsequent
publications, I presented a large body of clinical, microscopic, and biochemical
data to show that all symptom complexes of chronic disorders are caused,
amplified, and perpetuated by oxygen-related factors.9-36
I support my view of primacy of the oxygen concerns over the carbon concerns by
reviewing a large body of observations of natural phenomena under the following
headings:
1. Oxygen issues and carbon issues;
2. Oxygen deficit is the primary threat to planetary life;
3. Carbon creates a mess and oxygen cleans up that mess;
4. Oxygen: an orphan element;
5. Oxygen and nitrogen economies;
6. Eutrophication;
7. Scorched lands and big thaws;
8. Hypoxic and anoxic waters;
9. Smog and oxygen deficit;
10. Clean energy, dirty energy;
11. Primacy of oxygen issues over carbon issues for aquatic species;
12. Primacy of oxygen issues over carbon issues for land animals;
13. Primacy of oxygen issues over carbon issues for plants;
14. Primacy of oxygen issues over carbon issues for humans;
15. The age of mystery maladies;
16. Oxygen and the edges of human life span;
17. Humans are not the apex predators; and
18. What next? A world order of ethics?
1. OXYGEN ISSUES AND CARBON ISSUES
The emphasis on the carbon concerns is based on sound scientific data. After
years of spirited media discourse and bitter political debate, there is emerging
agreement on the threat posed by carbon excessand resulting global
acidification, climatic warming, and consequent threats to life. However, it has
not been recognized that all adverse biologic effects of carbon excess are
mediated by oxygen deficitquantitatively, slowing metabolic pathways, as well
as qualititatively, disrupting oxygen signaling. The crucial point here is:
Victory in the struggle with carbon issues will prove hollow unless all relevent
oxygen issues are effectively addressed. Below, I summarize my main points:
- Human and animal cells produce energy by
oxygen-driven processes;
- Human and animal cells are injured when their oxygen-driven processes are
impaired;
- Human and animal cells are clogged by excess carbon;
- Clogged human and animal cells are unclogged by oxygen;
- All forms of chronic cellular injury involve functional oxygen deficit (dysox);
- Most forms of cellular injury do not involve carbon excess;
- Cellular injury caused by carbon factors is mediated by oxygen factors;
- Cellular injury caused by oxygen factors generally does not involve carbon
factors;
- Carbon factors generally injure cells by covering them with greasedenatured
lipids embedded in cellular wasteimpeding cellular respiration, figuratively
and literally;
- Oxygen and oxyradicals remove that grease to restore cellular respiration; and
- The fundamental energetics of aerobic lifehumans and animals inspire oxygen
and expire carbonare identical. So, it follows that what injures humans also
injures animals, and vice versa.
2. OXYGEN DEFICIT IS THE PRIMARY THREAT TO PLANETARY LIFE
Oxygen is the organizing principle of all aerobic life on the planet Earth. This
statement may be considered stridenteven a leap of imagination, unsupported by
scientific facts. Students in all fields of biology learn about fundamental
oxygen-driven cellular energetics. Then their interest in the subject wanes.
Deranged oxygen signaling and impaired Krebs cycle chemistry are at the roots of
all chronic disorders. Zoologists and botanists consider the problems of oxygen
homeostasis only in a perfunctory mannertherapeutic interventions for oxygen
issues are not in vogue in their respective disciplines. The case of human
sickness is different and compelling. There is a profound irony here. Physicians
in clinical practice seldom, if ever, show any curiosity about the Krebs cycle
derangements as the basis of clinical symptom-complexes they encounter in their
patients. They simply prescribe drugs to suppress symptoms. Marine biologists
consider oxygen issues but also fail to recognize the primacy of the oxygen
issues over the carbon issues.
Historically, we physicians have had little, if any, interest in understanding
the issues of biology and ecology of animal and plant kingdoms. Now the large
and looming threats of global warming, incremental global chemicalization, and
climatic changes require that we seek a broader and integrated view of oxygen
homeostasis on the planet. All life on the planet is in jeopardy. The oxygen
issues of humans can no longer be separated from those facing animals and
plants. I began Oxygen and Aging (2000)40 with the following words:
Cellular oxygen dysfunction, in my view, is the single most important threat to
human health. Cellular oxygen metabolism is put in jeopardy by a growing number
of nutritional deficiencies, metabolic roller coasters, synthetic chemicals, and
lifestyle stressors.
Human canaries [individuals with chronic disabling energy deficit syndromes]
tell all of us something about the shape of things to come. No one is immune to
what poisons them. It is merely a matter of time. As poisons accumulate to
paralyze oxygen metabolism, everyone can be expected to become a canary. This is
not a doomsday prophecy. In my travels from Beijing to Bankok, from Moscow to
Nairobi, from Oslo to the Honduras, I have seen human canaries of all colors, of
all shapes, and of all ages. Everywhere I went, I saw human canaries in
increasing numbers. This book in that sense is a wake-up call about the pandemic
of dysfunctional oxygen metabolism.
In the past, we physicians have not been ecologic thinkers. We must be now. My
main point in Oxygen and Aging was to underscore the importance of keeping
oxygen homeostasis at center stage in making all clinical management decisions.
The rate of predicted climatic changes is expected to increase, worsening the
degrees of dysox in chronic environmental, nutritional, infectious, and
stress-related disorders. For these reasons, and to foster a deeper
understanding of the energetic basis of clinical disease, we physicians must
closely examine the the issues of dysox and climatic chaos as intricately
connected twin global threats to all life on the planet. It is essential to
develop a broad integrative perspective on issues of anoxic waters, massive
kills of the aquine species, and mass mortalities of land species (disappearing
frogs, missing amphibians, collapsing colony disorder of bees, and decimation of
the world's butterflies).
3. CARBON CREATES A MESS AND OXYGEN CLEANS THAT MESS
My essential argument here is: Carbon covers cells with grease while oxygen and
oxygen-derived radicals serve as molecular detergents, penetrate that grease,
remove it, and permit cells to breathe againfiguratively and literally. I do
not take poetic license with facts of biology. In the process of living,
cellular greasedebris embedded in rancid fats and disfigured proteins
accumulates on the cell membranes, matrix, and mitochondria. In health, oxygen
oxidizes and breaks up the grease, allowing cells to "breathe" againliterally
and figurativelyrestoring the gating functions of cell membranes, matrix-based
regulatory signaling, and mitochondrial ATP generation. This basic order of
biology prevails in all human, animal, and plant cell populations.
For human biology, nature subordinated the "carbon chemistry" to the "oxygen
chemistry." It established the same heirarchy concerning the chemistries of
nitrogen, sulfur, iron, and other elements. I presented these subjects at length
in Darwin, Oxygen Homeostasis, and Oxystatic Therapies, the tenth volume of The
Principles and Practice of Integrative Medicine.41 Carbon is used to build
chemical bond energy. Oxygen both regulates that process and breaks down these
bonds to release energy. Carbon toxicity poisons the environmentby
acidification with carbon dioxide, for instanceand threatens human and animal
life by the same final pathways of tissue injury: disruption of oxygen signaling
and oxygen-driven cellular energetics. However, oxygen homeostasis is a vast
ever-changing kaleidoscopic mosaic with elaborate adaptive and self-correcting
mechanisms that protect it from threats posed by a carbon chemistry run
amuckglobal warming, acid rains, incremental burden of industrial pollutants,
pesticides, radiation, and lifestyle stressors. Chronic environmental and
nutritional illnesses essentially begin when the oxygen-driven detoxification
pathways of the body are overwhelmed.
I cite the case of water stratification to elaborate my point that oxygen, not
carbon, completes the story of disease and death. In a large lake, the surface
water is aerated and oxygenated. On the lake floor, water becomes nutrient-rich
as plankton and algae release minerals from the lake bed and build nutrients,
using chemical bond energy generated by photosynthesis. If such water strata
were to be left undisturbed, the aquatic life in oxygen-rich surface water would
sicken and die because of malnutrition, and species in the deep nutrient-rich,
oxygen-depleted water would die of suffocation. Nature regularly and vigorously
mixes surface and deep watersby, let's say, monsoon stormsto prevent mass
extinction of species in that lake. Nature is also cyclical. During some
periods, water stratification persists due to absence of sufficient storm
activity, and mass mortalities do occur in aquatic species. However, such
disruptive natural weather cycles are generally followed by others with strong
restorative influences. The problem now is that those natural cycles are being
disrupted with increasing frequency by anthropogenic influences.
4. OXYGEN: AN ORPHAN ELEMENT
In human spheres, oxygen has no guardian angel. No one makes money from
discussing it in the media. Politicians are blissfully ignorant about oxygenno
surprise, their ignorance is painful only for others. Drug makers have not yet
discovered how to earn billions by deceiving the public with an "oxygen pill."
There are some who push liquid oxygen, however, their deceptions are puny. As
for doctors, their silence in this area is deafeninga sad state of affairs
since diseases are fundamentally caused by clogged oxygen-driven energetics and
by deranged oxygen signaling. What is surprising here is the absence of
scientists in oxygen issues of our time. Oxygen continues to be an elemental
orphan.
Why did the larger threat of oxygen deficit escape the notice of biologists,
physicians, and the public? There are many reasons. Carbon pollutants were more
visibleblack smoke from industrial chimneys is hard to miss, soot in diesel
exhaust is not easy to escapeand their adverse effects on planetary life were
very visible. So, concerns about carbon excess were raised early by scientists
and recognized by many in the general public soon after. The story of oxygen
deficit has been quite different. First, absence of invisible substances is not
likely to be noticed as readily as the presence of dirty and smelly carbon
substances. Second, carbon pollutants were easily traced to industries. By
contrast, the corporations that contributed to oxygen deficit were hard to pin
down. Third, the professionals who should have been the first to recognize the
direct and dire consequences of oxygen deficit were least prepared to do sothe
doctors. The chemistry of the Krebs cyclethe primary cycle of energy generation
in cellsappears in the first year curriculum of medical students, and then
disappears forever. Except for a handful of integrative physicians, doctors
never investigate and address issues of impaired or blocked cellular energetics.
Fourth, even when unequivocal evidence for chronic and unrelenting illness
caused by oxygen deficiency is forthcoming, it does not fit into the prevailing
model of treating and "preventing" diseases with synthetic chemicals. There are
simply no drugs to treat clinical problems created by oxygen deficit.
References
1. Blatt H. America's Environmental Score-Card. 2004. Cambridge, MA. MIT Press.
2. Gelnspan R. Boiling Point. 2004. New York. Basic Books.
3. Flannery T. The Weather Makers. 2005. New York. Grove Press.
4. Gore A. An Inconvenient Truth. 2006. New York. Rodale.
5. Kerry J, Kerry T. This Moment on Earth. 2007. New York. Public Affairs.
6. Frumhoff PC, McCarthy JJ, Melillo JM. Confronting Climate Change in the U.S.
Northeast (2007) . Union of Concerned Scientists: Cambridge, MA, UCS
Publications.
7. Ali M. The dysox model of aging. Townsend Letter for Doctors and
Patients.2005;269:130-134.
8. Ali M. Obesity is cellular oxygen deficiency state. Aging Healthfully.
2004;5:2-19.
9. Ali M. Oxygen governs the inflammatory response and adjudicates the
man-microbe conflicts. Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients.
2005;262:98-103.
10. Ali M. Beyond insulin resistance and syndrome X: The oxidative-dysoxygenative
insulin dysfunction (ODID) model. J Capital University of Integrative Medicine.
2001;1:101-141.
11. Ali M.The Dysox Model of Diabetes and De-Diabetization Potential. Townsend
Letter-The examiner of Alternative Medicine. 2007; 286:137-145.
12. Ali M. Darwin's Drones, Dysox, and Diabetes. 2008. New York, Canary 21
Press.
13. Ali M, Ali O: AA oxidopathy: the core pathogenic mechanism of ischemic heart
disease. J Integrative Medicine 1997;1:6 112.
14. Ali M, Ali O, Fayemi A, et al: Efficacy of an integrative program including
intravenous and intramuscular nutrient therapies for arrested growth. J
Integrative Medicine 1998; 2:56-69.
15. Ali M. Fischer S, Juco J, et al. The dyso model of coronay artery disease.
Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients. 2006;270/71:110-112.
16. Ali M. Beyond the cholesterol and inflammatory theories of coronary artery
disease: The oxidative-dysoxygenative coronary disease (ODCAD) model. J
Integrative Medicine. 2002; 7:1-19.
17. Ali M, Ali O, Fayemi A, et al: Guidelines for intravenous therapies in
integrative medicine. J Integrative Medicine 1998; 2:82-95.
18. Ali Recent advances in integrative allergy care. Current Opinion in
Otolaryngology & Head and Neck Surgery 2000;8:260-266.
19. Ali M. Oxidative coagulopathy in environmental illness. Environmental
Management and Health. 2000;11:175-191.
20. Ali M. Juco J, Fayemi, A, et al. The dysox model of asthma and clinical
outcome with integrated management plan. Townsend Letter-The examiner of
Alternative Medicine. 2006;274:58-61. (May 2006)
21. Ali M. The dysox model of renal insufficieny and improved renal function
with oxystatic therapies. Townsend Letter for Doctors and
Patients.2005;267:101-108.
22. Ali M: Amenorrhea, oligomenorrhea, and polymenorrhea in CFS and fibromyalgia
are caused by oxidative menstrual dysfunction (OMD-I) J Integrative Medicine
1998; 2:101-124.
23. Ali M: Oxidative menopausal dysfunction (OMD II):hormone replacement therapy
(HRT) or receptor restoration therapy (RRT)? J Integrative Medicine
1998;2:125-139.
24. Ali M. The unifying dysox model of hormone disorders and receptor
restoration therapy. Townsend Letter-The examiner of Alternative Medicine. 2007;
291;145-151.
25. Ali M, Ali O, Fayemi A, et al: Efficacy of an integrative program including
intravenous and intramuscular nutrient therapies for arrested growth. J
Integrative Medicine 1998; 2:56-69.
26. Ali M. Restoration of lipid signaling in fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue
syndrome. Townsend Letter-The examiner of Alternative Medicine. 2008; 295/6.
131-7.
27. Ali M: Fibromyalgia: an oxidative dysoxygenative disorder (ODD). J
Integrative Medicine 1999; 3:17-37.
28. Ali M The Oxygen View of Pain: Every chronic pain represents cells' cries
for oxygen. Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients. 2005;258:46-48-102.
29. Ali M. Bone homeostasis is but one face of oxygen homeostasis. Townsend
Letter for Doctors and Patients. 2005;261:86-93.
30. Ali M. The dysox state and chronic parasitic infestations. Townsend
Letter-The examiner of Alternative Medicine. 2006;276:82-84. (July 2006)
31. Ali M. Prevention of the Iraq War-associated sickness (I-WAS): A prediction
and a challenge to the Department of Defense- Townsend Letter for Doctors and
Patients. 2005;259/260:134-138.
32. Ali M. Carcinogenesis: The Oxidative-Dysoxygenative Model. J Integrative
Medicine 2001;5:9-32
33. Ali M. Cancer, Oxygen, and pantotropha - Part I.
Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients. 2004;256:98-102.
34. Ali M. The Cancerization/De-Cancerization Dynamics of the Dysox Model of
cancer. Cancer, Oxygen, and pantotropha Part II Townsend Letter for Doctors
and Patients. 2005;264:122-131.
35. Ali M. The Crab, Oxygen and Cancer. Volume I: The Dysox Model of Cancer.
2007. New York, Canary 21 Press.
36. Ali M. The Crab, Oxygen and Cancer. Volume II: The Oxygen Protocol for
Cancer. 2007. New York, Canary 21 Press.
37. Ali M: Darwin, oxidosis, dysoxygenosis, and integration. J Integrative
Medicine 1999;3:11-16.
38. Ali M. Respiratory-to-Fermentative (RTF) Shift in ATP Production in Chronic
Energy Deficit States. Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients. 2004.
August/Sept. issue. 64-65.
39. Ali M. Hurt human habitat and energy deficitHealing Through Restoration of
Krebs cycle chemistry. Townsend Letter-The examiner of Alternative Medicine.
2006; 279:112-115.
40. Ali M. Oxygen and Aging. (Ist ed.) New York, Canary 21 Press. Aging
Healthfully Book 2000.
41. Ali M. The Principles and Practice of Integrative Medicine Volume XII:
Darwin, Oxygen Homeostasis, and Oxystatic Therapies. 3 rd. Edi. New York.
Insitute of Integrative Medicine Press.
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İAging Healthfully, Inc. İThe
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