Intercellular Alkalizing Effects of the Naked Electron from Heliopatch
Intercellular Alkalizing Effects: Commonly, we understand magnesium as free ions in water, prevalent in various supplements and foods. These ions, in the form of Mg2+, serve as crucial nutrients for the body. As the fourth most abundant element in the body, magnesium acts as a cofactor in over 300 enzymes and plays a role as a neuromodulator, among other functions. Enumerating all its functions here would require a separate document, and numerous reviews on the role of magnesium ions already exist (Long & Romani, 2014).[1]
Magnesium ions often come with counter ions like oxide (O-2) or hydroxide (OH-), which, when ingested, have alkalizing effects. An example is Milk of Magnesia, an antacid and laxative containing magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)2). These hydroxide or oxide counter ions can directly neutralize acidity (H+), boosting pH—a process known as alkalization. Athletes often find this pH increase beneficial as it neutralizes acidity generated by muscles, preventing a burning sensation and muscle/brain fatigue caused by dropping pH below the physiological ideal.
While magnesium provides ideal alkalinity, its laxative effect makes it impractical for performance enhancement as an alkalizer. Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) or potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3) are alternatives, but they come with their own problematic side effects.
Bicarbonate supplementation is effective but shares drawbacks with other orally taken supplements. Chronic ingestion may cause intravascular volume expansion, leading to imbalances in water/salt regulation, low renin, and low aldosterone. Additional side effects include gastrointestinal upsets like vomiting and diarrhea (McNaughton, 1992) [2]. On a more alarming note, oral bicarbonate administration has caused gastric rupture in at least 8 published case reports. The combination of bicarbonate (HCO3-) with gastric acid (HCl) releases excess carbon dioxide (CO2), potentially leading to gastric rupture with a mortality rate as high as 65% (Lazebnik N, 1986).
Figure 1- Reaction of potassium bicarbonate with hydrochloric acid in the stomach. As a gas, carbon dioxide can create tremendous pressure within the stomach in a short time.
Stomach acid plays a crucial role in digestion, and its elimination can result in poor food digestion, leading to increased flatus. When more nutrients are passed to gut bacteria, their metabolic activities create gases. The complex and compartmentalized pH in the body may trigger compensatory changes in the digestive system that do not benefit athletes when they stop consuming bicarbonate solutions. Additionally, these drinks have an unpleasant taste, causing athletes to question their chosen lifestyle and leading to dissatisfaction among those who stick with it.
Gas in the digestive tract and undigested food are undesirable for athletes who require a high calorie intake. Alkalinity in the digestive tract can hinder the absorption of many foods and supplements. Moreover, alkaline blood may result in either slow elimination or accelerated removal of drugs from the body. Employing such a broad mechanism to adjust the athlete's body pH can lead to a wide range of undesirable and undefined outcomes.
Magnesium, when administered through non-ingestion routes, does not induce a laxative effect. Intravenous administration of water-soluble magnesium sulfate is common for chemotherapy patients with hypomagnesemia, but insoluble alkalizing particles like magnesium hydroxide or magnesium oxide cannot be administered this way. Therefore, intravenous administration is not suitable for delivering alkalizing magnesium hydroxide, oxide, or carbonate.
A novel method for administering magnesium's alkalinity is through the topical application of magnesium metal. This approach achieves alkalization without directly introducing a hydroxide or bicarbonate. By placing magnesium metal on the skin, corrosion occurs, releasing naked electrons that transfer through the skin and penetrate deep into the body's tissues, neutralizing free radicals. This method is analogous to creating a desired condition at a distance (a runner with a ball) rather than physically running with the football across the ground. In contrast, ingesting an alkaline salt is akin to running with the ball, as it travels from the digestive system through the circulatory system to the target muscle.
Various reactions of the naked electron with radicals are possible, but they all share a common feature: an increase in pH.
Superoxide to Hydrogen Peroxide
The initial reaction involves converting superoxide into hydrogen peroxide. Superoxide is the first radical in the sequence of reactive oxygen species (ROS) formed after diatomic oxygen (O2) gains its first electron.
Similarly, once superoxide has been transformed into hydrogen peroxide, it can also be neutralized. The crucial components for this reaction include the superoxide radical, two acid molecules (H+), and two electrons.
Figure 2- Half-cell reactions between superoxide and magnesium metal to form hydrogen peroxide and magnesium ions.
The reaction of superoxide with the naked electron is less likely to happen at a distance than the other reactions illustrated below due to its voltage. Fortunately, a class of enzymes called superoxide dismutase (SOD) is available within cells to help convert this radical to the more stable hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide can then be converted by catalase or by the naked electron into a stable form.
Hydrogen Peroxide to Water
The reaction illustrated in figure 3 below illustrates the neutralization of hydrogen peroxide using two electrons and two molecules of acid (H+).
Figure 3- Half-cell reactions between hydroxyl radicals and magnesium metal form hydroxide and magnesium ions.
This neutralization process generates hydroxide (OH-) as a product, crucial for performance-enhancing alkalization due to the relatively high voltage (>4V). The naked electron's action differs from chemical antioxidants, which must travel within the body and directly contact the radical for neutralization. A comparable example is hydrogen gas (H2).
Hydroxyl to Hydroxide
The naked electron can neutralize the hydroxyl radical, one of the most damaging radicals in the body, lacking enzymatic defense.
Figure 4- Half-cell reactions between hydroxyl radicals and magnesium metal to form hydroxide and magnesium ions.
In the reaction above, the product of this neutralization of hydroxyl (OH•) radicals inside the body is hydroxide (OH-). The relatively high voltage (>4V) from this reaction allows it to proceed spontaneously at a distance between the magnesium and the radicals inside the body. Hydroxide or its neutralization of acid to produce water is the essence of performance enhancing alkalization.
The action of the naked electron can be contrasted with the chemical antioxidants that need to travel within the body and actually contact the radical to neutralize it. One of the best studied and most comparable to the action of the naked electron is hydrogen gas (H2).
Hydroxyl plus Molecular Hydrogen (H2) to Make Water
H2, or elemental hydrogen, serves as an antioxidant by neutralizing hydroxyl radicals (OH•) and forming water (H2O). This gas is a valuable research tool, penetrating all organs and selectively neutralizing hydroxyl radicals. Quantifying hydrogen's bioavailability is challenging due to its potential exit through the skin, and measuring total absorption is difficult.
Figure 5- Half-cell reactions between hydroxyl radicals and hydrogen gas to form water.
The product of the reactions is hydroxide (OH-) commonly known as base, and acid (H+), which unite to form water spontaneously in the acid-base reaction.
Figure 6- Acid base neutralization reaction to form water.
The reaction of hydroxyl radicals with hydrogen gas will form water. This reaction occurs only upon collision of H2 and OH• and always will only form water (H2O). There is no alkalizing effect from this reaction because hydrogen becomes acid and neutralizes the base made by the reduction of the hydroxyl radical to hydroxide.
Drinking hydrogen-rich water has been shown in numerous studies to decrease oxidative stress. In the following studies, the hydrogen enrichment is accomplished by placing magnesium metal in drinking water, and then drinking the resulting hydrogen-rich water. This water is also more alkaline due to the reactions of magnesium with the acid in the water to form hydrogen gas.
Figure 7- Half-cell reactions between protons (acid) and magnesium metal to form hydrogen gas and magnesium ions.
The Heliopatch Solution
We have developed a new type of antioxidant supplementation at Heliopatch- direct electron donation with the naked electron. This system doesn’t send an antioxidant into the body to deliver an electron. Instead, it connects a potent source of electrons to the skin and these are transmitted into the body to create an electrochemical cell. These naked electrons don’t have a chemical carrier; they flow within the body’s network of electrically conductive paths to the places where the free radicals are made. These electrons are attracted over the greatest distances to the most potent free radicals such as hydroxyl radicals (OH•).
The high innate voltage of this electrochemical reaction means that the anodic and cathodic reactions can occur at great distances from one another. Instead of requiring transport of the antioxidant through the bloodstream and adjacent to the free radical to be neutralized, the electrons can flow through tissues using electrically conductive routes that do not depend upon blood. When the free electron encounters the hydroxyl radical (OH•), it creates the benign hydroxide (OH-) which increases pH; this alkalization provides a performance-enhancing effect of its own beyond the neutralization of the radical.
Hydroxyl Radicals, Hydroxide and the Alkalizing Effect
Hydroxide is considered by many to have positive effects on performance. It is known as an alkalizing effect, and alkaline substances have been used to enhance performance in athletics for many years. When the electrons flow into the person and attack a hydroxyl radical, this increases pH. Most metabolic processes result in acidic outputs such as CO2 (aerobic) or lactic acid (anaerobic). When you exercise more than your oxygen delivery can keep up with, the body utilizes anaerobic metabolism. A product of this metabolic pathway is pyruvate, which becomes lactic acid; this acidity leads to the burning sensation in the muscle. This lactic acid then moves from the muscle to the blood, decreasing your blood pH.
Recent studies (Mueller SM, 2013) [4] showed significant performance enhancement where average cycling time-to-exhaustion (Tlim) increased by 23.5% with NaHCO3 supplementation as compared to placebo. These results corroborate the performance enhancing results of ingesting sodium bicarbonate that have been observed since the seventies (Jones NL, 1977) [5]. In horse racing the use of buffering agents is banned, and limits have been set on the concentration of bicarbonate in blood samples taken before races (Gill, 2015) [6].
In many examples of medical conditions that cause acidosis, the alkalization of the body has beneficial impacts. The use of enough potassium bicarbonate in the diet to neutralize the daily net acid load in postmenopausal women resulted in a significant increase in Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1). Low protein diets lead to a systemic decrease in many factors such as IGF-1; supplementation with bicarbonate increased the levels of IGF-1 from 95.9 ± 31.7 ng/ml to the same levels as the high protein group 136.4 ± 41.3 ng/ml, a statistically significant change of 40.5 ng/ml (Ceglia L, 2009) [7]. IGF-1 has many roles in the body; one well-documented role for this hormone is the anabolic increase in muscle mass (Velloso, 2008) [8].
Clearly, the benefits of alkalizing the blood for athletic performance are significant, but the means employed to produce this effect through oral supplementation can carry some unacceptable risks which are not justified by the increase in performance. If the alkalinity was increased without the production of carbon dioxide, there would be no interference with the body’s normal signaling mechanisms. Likewise, without the evolution of CO2 gas the gruesome prospect of gastric rupture would also be avoided.
Heliopatch generates alkalinity electrochemically and at a distance from the magnesium rather than through a direct ingestion and transport of an alkaline substance. Converting the dangerous hydroxyl radical (OH•) into hydroxide (OH-) turns the harmful into something beneficial. This is all without oral supplementation, ingestion or the problematic production of gaseous CO2.
Electrochemical Experiments with Alkalization
At Heliopatch, we have conducted a series of experiments to verify the increase in pH under controlled conditions at a distance from the magnesium metal corrosion, which creates its own increase in pH. Our experiments utilized long salt bridges filled with gel and potassium chloride to prevent the high pH in the magnesium containing solution from directly changing the pH of the target solutions that represent the body’s chemistry as a target for electrons. These salt bridges allow the electrons to be the only pH modifier acting upon the solution. Each target solution contains a pH indicating dye as well as an electronic pH probe that detects the change in pH.
We used a variety of conditions to help illustrate the alkalizing nature of the electrons delivered by magnesium.
In the first solution is purified water and pH indicator dye plus an electrode donating electrons.
In a second solution is purified water and pH indicator dye with a drop of hydrogen peroxide plus an electrode donating electrons.
In a third solution is purified water and pH indicator dye a drop of hydrogen peroxide and iron sulfate plus an electrode donating electrons.
In a fourth solution is purified water and pH indicator dye plus iron sulfate.
Upon the addition of hydrogen peroxide to the iron sulfate solution in solution 3, there was an immediate and significant drop in pH, accompanied by an increase in the Oxidation-Reduction Potential (ORP). This shift indicated the catalytic influence of iron on hydrogen peroxide.
Initially, the reactions favored the production of acid from the combination of hydrogen peroxide and iron (II). As equilibrium was established between iron (II) and iron (III), a consistent rise in pH occurred when electrodes were active in the Fenton's reagent solution. The equations in figure 8 depict the interactions between iron and hydrogen peroxide in the same solution. Notably, when considering only these reactions, the pH remains neutral due to the equal production of acid and base from the reactions of iron with hydrogen peroxide.
Figure 8- The reactions of the Fenton’s Reagent upon hydrogen peroxide to generate hydroxyl radicals and superoxide.
Yet, in a solution featuring an electrode capable of donating free electrons, as depicted in figure 4, hydroxyl radicals undergo conversion into hydroxide (OH-), leading to an increase in pH. Similar reactions take place within the human body, where free iron interacts with hydrogen peroxide generated by superoxide dismutase, producing a hydroxyl radical (OH•) and superoxide. When a free electron source is in proximity, such as the magnesium in Heliopatch, these electrons reduce hydroxyl to form hydroxide, elevating the body's pH and mitigating the impacts of intense physical exertion.
This innovative antioxidant, the naked electron, introduces an unparalleled source of alkalinity that can deeply penetrate the body's most active tissues, independent of blood flow. The naked electron stands as a groundbreaking element for athletic performance and recovery, akin to the transformative impact of air transport on logistics.
Works Cited
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Ceglia L, S. S.-H. (2009). Potassium Bicarbonate Attenuates the Urinary Nitrogen Excretion That Accompanies an Increase in Dietary Protein and May Promote Calcium Absorption. J Clin Endocrinol Metab., Feb; 94(2): 645–653. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2730228/
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Gill, A. M. (2015, July 8). Equi-force. (Equi-Force Equine Products, LLC) Retrieved from http://www.equiforce.com/bicarbonate-loading-in-horses.aspx
Ji XD, M. N. (1996). Interactions of flavonoids and other phytochemicals with adenosine receptors. J Med Chem., Feb 2;39(3):781-8. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8576921
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Kang K, Y.-N. K.-B. (2011). Effects of drinking hydrogen-rich water on the quality of life of patients treated with radiotherapy for liver tumors. Med Gas Res., June 7 1: 11. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3231938/
Lazebnik N, I. A. (1986). Spontaneous rupture of the normal stomach after sodium bicarbonate ingestion. J Clin Gastroenterol., Aug;8(4):454-6. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3020119
Long, S., & Romani, A. (2014). Role of Cellular Magnesium in Human Diseases. Austin J Nutr Food Sci., 2(10): 1051. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4379450/
MacRae HS, M. K. (2006). Dietary antioxidant supplementation combined with quercetin improves cycling time trial performance. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab, Aug;16(4):405-19. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17136942
McNaughton, L. R. (1992). Bicarbonate ingestion: effects of dosage on 60 s cycle ergometry. J Sports Sci., Oct;10(5):415-23. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1331493
Moshfegh A, G. J. (2009). What We Eat in America, NHANES 2005-2006: Usual Nutrient Intakes from Food and Water Compared to 1997 Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin D, Calcium, Phosphorus, and Magnesium. Beltsville Maryland: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service.
Mueller SM, G. S. (2013). Multiday acute sodium bicarbonate intake improves endurance capacity and reduces acidosis in men. J Int Soc Sports Nutr., Mar 26;10(1). Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3623762/
supplements, N. I. (2013, November 4). Magnesium- Health Professinal Fact Sheet. Retrieved from Magnesium Fact Sheet For Health Professionals: https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Magnesium-HealthProfessional/Velloso, C. P. (2008). Regulation of muscle mass by growth hormone and IGF-I. Br J Pharmacol., Jun; 154(3): 557–568. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2439518/
Footnotes
[1]http://austinpublishinggroup.com/nutrition-food-sciences/fulltext/ajnfs-v2-id1051.php
[2]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1331493
[3]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3020119
[4]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3623762/
[5]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24031
[6]http://www.equiforce.com/bicarbonate-loading-in-horses.aspx
Novel method to improve blood oxygenation