Carbon Dioxide: Health Effects, Uses and Benefits

Brain CO2 health effects: low O2 due to vasoconstriction CO2 (carbon dioxide) health effects and benefits for the human body are innumerable in spite of environmental concerns related to global warming. Life was born and had existed for millennia at very high CO2 content in air (up to about 7-12% in air when the first lungs were evolving).

Note that large CO2 concentrations produce adverse effects and pure CO2 is a toxic gas to breathe. This web page is focused on typical or physiological CO2 levels ranging from about 20 to 50 mm Hg or from about 2.7 to 7.5%.

Normal level of CO2 in the lungs and arterial blood (40 mm Hg or about 5.3% at seal level) is imperative for normal health. Do modern people have normal CO2 levels?

Minute ventilation rates (chronic diseases)

Condition	Minute ventilation	Number of people	All references or click below for abstracts
Normal breathing	6 L/min	-	Medical textbooks
Healthy Subjects	6-7 L/min	>400	Results of 14 studies
Heart disease	15 (±4) L/min	22	Dimopoulou et al, 2001
Heart disease	16 (±2) L/min	11	Johnson et al, 2000
Heart disease	12 (±3) L/min	132	Fanfulla et al, 1998
Heart disease	15 (±4) L/min	55	Clark et al, 1997
Heart disease	13 (±4) L/min	15	Banning et al, 1995
Heart disease	15 (±4) L/min	88	Clark et al, 1995
Heart disease	14 (±2) L/min	30	Buller et al, 1990
Heart disease	16 (±6) L/min	20	Elborn et al, 1990
Pulm hypertension	12 (±2) L/min	11	D'Alonzo et al, 1987
Cancer	12 (±2) L/min	40	Travers et al, 2008
Diabetes	12-17 L/min	26	Bottini et al, 2003
Diabetes	15 (±2) L/min	45	Tantucci et al, 2001
Diabetes	12 (±2) L/min	8	Mancini et al, 1999
Diabetes	10-20 L/min	28	Tantucci et al, 1997
Diabetes	13 (±2) L/min	20	Tantucci et al, 1996
Asthma	13 (±2) L/min	16	Chalupa et al, 2004
Asthma	15 L/min	8	Johnson et al, 1995
Asthma	14 (±6) L/min	39	Bowler et al, 1998
Asthma	13 (±4) L/min	17	Kassabian et al, 1982
Asthma	12 L/min	101	McFadden & Lyons, 1968
COPD	14 (±2) L/min	12	Palange et al, 2001
COPD	12 (±2) L/min	10	Sinderby et al, 2001
COPD	14 L/min	3	Stulbarg et al, 2001
Sleep apnea	15 (±3) L/min	20	Radwan et al, 2001
Liver cirrhosis	11-18 L/min	24	Epstein et al, 1998
Hyperthyroidism	15 (±1) L/min	42	Kahaly, 1998
Cystic fibrosis	15 L/min	15	Fauroux et al, 2006
Cystic fibrosis	10 L/min	11	Browning et al, 1990
Cystic fibrosis*	10 L/min	10	Ward et al, 1999
CF and diabetes*	10 L/min	7	Ward et al, 1999
Cystic fibrosis	16 L/min	7	Dodd et al, 2006
Cystic fibrosis	18 L/min	9	McKone et al, 2005
Cystic fibrosis*	13 (±2) L/min	10	Bell et al, 1996
Cystic fibrosis	11-14 L/min	6	Tepper et al, 1983
Epilepsy	13 L/min	12	Esquivel et al, 1991
CHV	13 (±2) L/min	134	Han et al, 1997
Panic disorder	12 (±5) L/min	12	Pain et al, 1991
Bipolar disorder	11 (±2) L/min	16	MacKinnon et al, 2007
Dystrophia myotonica	16 (±4) L/min	12	Clague et al, 1994

Carbon dioxide molecule picture Hypocapnia (CO2 deficiency) in the lungs and, in most cases, arterial blood is a normal finding for chronic diseases due to prevalence of chronic hyperventilation among the sick.

Furthermore, as we discovered before, over 90% of modern people (so called "normal subjects") are also hyperventilators (see the link below to the Hyperventilation Table with over 20 medical research studies related to normal subjects). Hence, chronic hypocapnia is very common for modern man.

Main carbon dioxide health effects and uses in the human body

Follow the links for dozens of research references

Carbon dioxide vasodilation health benefits - Vasodilation (expansion of arteries and arterioles). As physiological studies found, hypocapnia (low CO2 concentration in the arterial blood) constricts blood vessels and leads to decreased perfusion of all vital organs

- The Bohr effect was first described in 1904 by the Danish physiologist Christian Bohr (father of physicist Niels Bohr). This law can be found in modern medical textbooks on physiology. The Bohr effect states that arterial hypocapnia will cause reduced oxygen release in tissue capillaries.

- Cells Oxygen Levels are controlled by alveolar CO2 and breathing. Hyperventilation, regardless of the arterial CO2 changes, causes alveolar hypocapnia (CO2 deficiency) that leads to cell hypoxia (low cells oxygen concentrations).

- Oxygen Transport, therefore, depends on breathing and these 2 effects (Vasoconstriction-Vasodilation and the Bohr effect) are part of 2 diagrams that summarizes influences of hypocapnia (low CO2 content in the blood and cells) on circulation and O2 delivery.

- Free Radicals Generation take place due to anaerobic cell respiration caused by cell hypoxia. Hence, antioxidant defenses of the human body are also regulated by CO2 and breathing, as these medical studies have found.

- Inflammatory Response are also, in a long run (chronic inflammation), controlled by breathing since hypoxia leads to or intensifies inflammation. Therefore, hyperventilation naturally promotes inflammatory health problems and CO2 is the key anti-inflammatory agent.

- Nerve Stabilization is due to calmative or sedative effects of carbon dioxide on nervous cells. Lack of CO2 in the brain leads to "spontaneous and asynchronous firing of neurons" (medical quote) "inviting" virtually all mental and psychological abnormalities ranging from panic attacks and seizures to sleeping problems, depression and schizophrenia.

- Muscle relaxation or relaxation of muscle cells is normal at high CO2, while hypocapnia causes muscular tension, poor posture and, sometimes, aggression and violence.

CO2 bronchodilation health benefit - Brochodilation - dilation of airways: bronchi and bronchioles by carbon dioxide, and their constriction due to hypocapnia.

- Blood pH regulation and regulation of other bodily fluids.

- CO2: Lung Damage Healer: Elevated carbon dioxide prevents injury and promotes healing of lung tissues.

- CO2: Skin and Tissue Healer.

- Synthesis of Glutamine in the Brain, CO2 fixation, and other chemical reactions: there are many other regulatory and facilitating effects related to uses of carbon dioxide.

- Regularity and Smoothness of Breathing is controlled by CO2. Lack of CO2 leads to "hypocapnic central apnea", which is a popular scientific term used by many doctors and scientists to describe the origins of sleep apnea.

- Hypercapnia (or Hypercarbia): Is it a pathology or a sign of super health?

This Google Video clip summarizes some CO2 health effects and benefits.

This myth ("CO2 is a toxic, waste, and poisonous gas") is one of the greatest modern superstitions. Thousands of medical studies has proven that reduced carbon dioxide levels in cells, tissues, organs, and fluids of the human organism cause numerous adverse effects. What are the origins of this myth? In the 1780s, French scientist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier determined the composition of air. Read more ...

Any medical or physiological textbook, which discusses control or regulation of breathing in the human body, states that breathing is mainly controlled by carbon dioxide concentrations in the brain and arterial blood. Obviously, should CO2 be poisonous, it would be normal to have it as little as possible, but the situation is opposite and the "poison" controls respiration, the fundamental function of the human body...

When chronically hyperventilating, should I experience all these bad effects? The above CO2 deficiency effects take place in all people. However, the degree of these problems and the symptoms (what is felt) are individual ...

Now we can answer the most fundamental questions related to health and genetics. Why and when are bad genes triggered? Why did we have such small rates of chronic diseases only 100 years ago? Genes and diseases: How we react to hyperventilation...

What was going on with CO2 during evolution of life? The web page Evolution of Air from the Section Causes of Hyperventilation discusses the environmental change in air CO2 content throughout the progress of life on Earth and its effect on health of humans.

This short review answers the question "What carbon dioxide is used for in the human body?", while there are many more useful CO2 roles for science to discover.

Reference Web Pages: Breathing norms, Medical Graphs and Tables about Breathing Rates (Minute Ventilation) and Body Oxygen in Healthy, Normal and Sick People
Breathing norms Parameters, graph, and description of the normal breathing pattern
6 breathing myths 6 myths about breathing and body oxygenation (prevalence: over 90%)
Hyperventilation Definitions of hyperventilation: their advantages and weak points
Hyperventilation Syndrome in the Sick. Table 1. Western scientific evidence about prevalence of CHV (chronic hyperventilation) in patients with various chronic conditions (34 medical studies)
Normal Minute Ventilation in Healthy Subjects: Easy and Light Breathing (14 Studies)
Hyperventilation Prevalence Present in Over 90% of Normal People (24 medical publications)
HV and hypoxia How and why deep breathing reduces oxygenation of cells and tissues of all vital organs
Body oxygen test How to measure your own breathing and body oxygenation (a simple DIY test)
Body oxygen in healthy Table 4. CP (body oxygen level) in healthy people (27 medical studies)
Body oxygen in sick Table 5. CP (body oxygen level) in sick people (14 medical studies)
Buteyko Table of Health Zones with clinical description of most common zones
Morning HV Morning hyperventilation effect or how and why critically ill people are most likely to die during early morning hours

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