The ozone paradox: ozone is a strong oxidant as well as a medical drug
Bocci V, Borrelli E, Travagli V, et al. Medicinal Research Reviews, 2009.
- Study type
- Review
- People studied
- No participants of its own (review)
- Published
- 2009, Medicinal Research Reviews
- Identifiers
- PMID 19260079, DOI 10.1002/med.20150
What the authors reported
Explains that prolonged ozone inhalation is toxic to the lungs and body, whereas a single, precisely calibrated ozone dose dissolved in blood ex vivo triggers antioxidant and biochemical responses in blood cells and endothelium that the authors describe as therapeutically useful without toxicity in selected diseases.
What limits this result
Narrative review by long-time ozone-therapy proponents that synthesizes prior mechanistic work rather than presenting new controlled data.
How ozone acts on blood and cells, how blood filters work, the laboratory and device-development studies behind the EBOO circuit, and studies that measure markers in the blood rather than how patients fare. None of these shows whether EBO2 helps patients. One study rarely settles a medical question; our guides weigh each paper against the rest of the evidence.
How the study was done
- Design
- Review (publication type label on the Europe PMC record)
- Setting
- Department of Physiology, University of Siena, Siena, Italy
- Read from
- Read from the abstract only; where this page says nothing about an item, the abstract does not report it. Read on September 28, 2026.
Sources: Abstract on Europe PMC, Abstract on PubMed
What it measured
- Review statement on prolonged ozone inhalation
- Can be very deleterious first for the lungs and successively for the whole organism
- Review statement on a small, well-calibrated ozone dose against the antioxidant capacity of blood
- Can trigger several useful biochemical mechanisms and reactivate the antioxidant system
- Review statement on single ozone doses in selected human diseases
- Can be therapeutically used without any toxicity or side effects
- Review statement on fields of application
- Beneficial effect said to be evident in orthopedics, cutaneous, and mucosal infections as well as in dentistry
Source: Abstract on PubMed
Safety as reported
States that single ozone doses can be used therapeutically in selected human diseases without any toxicity or side effects
Source: Abstract on PubMed
Where we cite this study
Does EBO2 (EBOO) Work? The Evidence, Study by Study
Every study in our EBO2 (EBOO) library in one place: design, size, what was measured and found, its limits, and a check for any study a clinic cites.
EBO2 (EBOO) for Autoimmune Conditions: Clinic Claims, the MS and Sjögren's Studies, and Standard Care
What clinics claim about EBO2 (EBOO) for autoimmune disease, what the MS, Sjögren's and RA ozone studies measured, and what NIH describes as care.
EBO2 (EBOO) for Longevity: What the Aging Research Does and Does Not Show
What the hormesis and ozone-and-aging reviews in our library actually measured, what regulators say about anti-aging claims for ozone, and what clinics claim.