Alternative health trend of DRINKING hydrogen peroxide can KILL, warn doctors
It is sold as a way to boost your health but it could cause you a trip to the emergency room with burns to your throat and stomach
DOCTORS are warning against a bizarre new health trend of drinking hydrogen peroxide which they say could kill.
It is sold as a way to boost your health but it could cause you a trip to the emergency room with burns to your throat and stomach.
Six people have been treated in Minnesota this year for injuries sustained after accidentally drinking highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide.
And medics have warned that while these cases were accidental - the patients thought they were drinking water - there is an increasing number of people intentionally drinking the potentially toxic liquid, reports the
It is thought hydrogen peroxide, often used as a disinfectant or bleaching agent in hair dye, can be used as a natural treatment for sinus infections, inflammation and a mouth wash to remove mucus.
According to WebMD the product can be used as a mouth rinse, mixed with equal parts water, to remove mucus or relieve minor irritation.
It recommends swilling the wash in your mouth for at least one minute before you spit it out, but strictly warns not to swallow it.
People are watching online tutorials that encourages them to put three drops of concentrated peroxide into eight ounces of water and drink it three times daily.
But it can cause serious health problems as soon as you drink it and even burn holes in your oesophagus and stomach.
Dr Ann Arens, a medical toxicologist at the Minnesota Poison Control System, said: "There’s no science behind any of it helping.
"There’s no benefit of doing it and it really opens you up to a lot of potential harm."
Doctors have reportedly seen an increase in cases of hydrogen peroxide poisoning in the last two months.
In these cases the hydrogen peroxide is stronger than the three to five per cent concentration usually found over-the-counter.
Instead it comes from bottles labelled "food grade quality" and is about 35 per cent hydrogen peroxide.
If the liquid burns a hole in your stomach or oesophagus it creates oxygen bubbles that can be released into the blood stream, explained Dr Stephen Hendriksen an emergency medicine doctor.
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The bubbles can then travel through the blood stream to the brain and cause seizures or stroke like symptoms.
If it manages to block blood supply, and therefore oxygen supply, to the brain then it could trigger a potentially deadly stroke.
In the UK hydrogen peroxide can be bought online from places like Chemist Direct or in pharmacies.
The product sold at Chemist Direct is recommended as a mild skin disinfectant for minor cuts, wounds and skin ulcers or as a mouthwash or gargle and is three per cent hydrogen peroxide.
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