Carbon dioxide against lack of oxygen!

I like controversial topics, paradoxical situations where things seem clear at first glance, but in reality everything is the opposite.

Everyone knows that carbon dioxide (CO2) is a waste gas from burning fats, proteins or carbohydrates. So it needs to be removed from the body properly and as quickly as possible and replaced with oxygen, right? Wrong. We need it for a very important barter. We need CO2 to buy oxygen from red blood cells, our tissues need it. If we don't have CO2, we don't get oxygen, molecule for molecule. Only CO2 will force hemoglobin to release oxygen. This simple rule has far-reaching consequences for our body. The level and production of carbon dioxide affects the availability of oxygen, and its deficiency will cause (pseudo)hypoxia, an apparent lack of oxygen, even when there will be enough oxygen in the blood.

The problem is that the formation of CO2 in the TCA cycle is a separate chemical event independent of oxidation. If the TCA cycle is slowed or stopped, CO2 is not formed. It is a condition that does not greatly affect the oxidation of both NADH and FADH2 in the electron transport chain, complexes I to IV, where ATP (cellular energy) is produced in complex V. Different food composition affects the activity of the TCA cycle enzymes differently, thus also the amount of CO2. The so-called respiratory quotient is characterized as the ratio of exhaled CO2 and consumed oxygen. For fat it is 0.7, for protein it is about 0.8 and for glucose it is 1. It seems that when burning fat or protein we need to recycle some amount of CO2 and use it to release oxygen from red blood cells. Otherwise, we slow down our metabolism, our cells have to shift to some anaerobic processes of fat and glucose metabolism. For example, they can ferment glucose into lactate or turn on the production of new fats, i.e. typical reactions occurring during (pseudo)hypoxia. 

Or we can soften and slow down breathing, increase the CO2 content of the lungs and ensure better recycling. It seems like complete nonsense, doesn't it? But it is not. An increase in the level of CO2 in the lungs leads to better oxidation in the tissues, an increase in heat production and an increase in the rate of metabolism, an increase in resting energy expenditure and thus the elimination of obesity.

If you don't believe it, just look at this study. Adding 3% or 5% carbon dioxide to an oxygen-depleted mixture can completely restore tissue (brain) oxygen levels to the original level before the artificially induced deficiency.

Brain tissue oxygenation in the absence of oxygen (8%, red curve), when supplemented with 3% CO2 (green curve) or 5% CO2 (blue curve). The application took place for 5 min (Gas Exposure) with subsequent recovery.

In the graph we can see that the short-term lack of oxygen with increased carbon dioxide allowed a normal oxygen supply with a subsequent elevation during recovery. It turns out that carbon dioxide could be used to treat a number of problems, such as vascular disorders. For example, it reduces pseudohypoxia, reduces the expression of HIF-1α, reduces the tendency of cells to survive in situations where they should not survive (e.g. tumors), thus it acts precisely against phenomena caused by, for example, fructose or toxins from the intestines, autooxidative toxins from polyunsaturated oils, etc. It also improves healing wounds and fractures.

Tissue response to hypoxia and carbon dioxide.

But we don't have to wait for professional medicine to discover the healing power of carbon dioxide. The easiest way to influence the composition of gases in the lungs and in the blood is to learn to breathe correctly, i.e. breathe through the nose with the mouth closed. There are various methods for this based on reducing hyperventilation, reducing the excess amount of oxygen in the lungs, which actually prevents the recycling of carbon dioxide and thus causes a lack of oxygen in the tissues. It is very interesting.

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References:

Supplemental CO2 improves oxygen saturation, oxygen tension, and cerebral oxygenation in acutely hypoxic healthy subjects

The Tissue Response to Hypoxia: How Therapeutic Carbon Dioxide Moves the Response toward Homeostasis and Away from Instability

Změn svůj dech a začnou se dít věci

"Take a Deep Breath" Is Bad Advice

MEASURE YOUR BOLT SCORE AND REDUCE BREATHLESSNESS DURING EXERCISE

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