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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 carbonin my viewmisses 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 homeotasiscrucial 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 Earththe cycles of economies of oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, iron, and essential elementsto 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 excessand 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 deficitquantitatively, 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 greasedenatured lipids embedded in cellular wasteimpeding cellular respiration, figuratively and literally;
- Oxygen and oxyradicals remove that grease to restore cellular respiration; and
- The fundamental energetics of aerobic lifehumans and animals inspire oxygen and expire carbonare 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 stridenteven 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 mannertherapeutic 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 againfiguratively and literally. I do not take poetic license with facts of biology. In the process of living, cellular greasedebris 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" againliterally and figurativelyrestoring 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 environmentby acidification with carbon dioxide, for instanceand 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 amuckglobal 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 watersby, let's say, monsoon stormsto 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 oxygenno 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 deafeninga 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 visibleblack smoke from industrial chimneys is hard to miss, soot in diesel exhaust is not easy to escapeand 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 sothe doctors. The chemistry of the Krebs cyclethe primary cycle of energy generation in cellsappears 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 deficitHealing 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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