Experts caution against 'CO2' breathing therapy promoted online
- Published on November 17, 2025 at 21:35
- 4 min read
- By AFP USA
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Health and wellness influencers are advertising carbon dioxide inhalers as treatment for an array of medical conditions in posts -- some which include homophobic language -- that have been viewed millions of times across social media. But experts said no scientific evidence backs usage of such devices, warning that increased CO2 levels in the body can trigger dizziness or cause a person to faint and may worsen existing obstructive pulmonary diseases.
"CO2 healed or improved all of these, even homosexuality," an October 22, 2025 X post claimed while sharing pictures of a person breathing through an aerosol face mask fixed to a gas cylinder.
The posts point to CO2 inhalation as the answer to everything from anxiety to migraines, and paralysis to ulcers.
Similar claims about "CO2 breathing therapy" have spread online -- including on Instagram, where AFP identified several posts from accounts with tens of thousands of followers promoting CO2 inhalers said to be using "beverage grade CO2" canisters and sold by a Wisconsin-based company called Carbogenetics.
In some demonstrations by influencers, the logo of the at-home carbonated drink maker SodaStream can be seen on the gas cylinders in use.
But "there is no legitimacy to this product," Nick Tiller (archived here), exercise scientist and research associate in the Lundquist Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, told AFP on November 8.
"There's no benefit to CO2 rebreathing, and it's much more likely to cause serious harm."
Science of CO2 exposure
CO2 can build up in the blood, leading to dizziness, confusion, shortness of breath, and, at high levels, unconsciousness -- effects extensively documented in scientific literature (archived here).
Research has shown that inhaling a mixture of CO2-enhanced gas may also induce anxiety in patients (archived here).
For those with certain medical conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (archived here), Tiller said excess CO2 "can be deadly."
Worsening of COPD due to elevated CO2 exposure has been scientifically researched (archived here).
"We breathe faster and deeper when CO2 rises in the blood in order to expel it and prevent this from happening. There is no plausible benefit to this scenario," he said.
Biologist and University of Liverpool professor, Michael Berenbrink (archived here), told AFP on November 13 that inhalation of CO2-enriched air could theoretically increase acidity in the blood.
These pH changes can, in turn, influence the release of oxygen from hemoglobin, promoting oxygen delivery in tissues.
This phenomenon is known as the "Bohr effect" and is mentioned in some of Carbogenetics's promotional content (archived here).
This mechanism can happen when humans are naturally submitted to enhanced CO2 levels at high altitudes, for example. "However, the effect is rather small," Berenbrink said.
He told AFP that carbon dioxide has many other impacts on the body, including affecting blood flow to the brain.
"I think a full medical evaluation is necessary before such devices are sold and used," he added.
Too many acids in the blood can impair enzyme function, disrupt cellular processes, and, if severe, threaten organ function (archived here).
Unproven devices
AFP contacted Carbogenetics for a comment on the safety of its products but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
The "science" section of the company's website mentions research on carbon dioxide without providing functioning links to the papers it mentions.
Archived versions of the website show it once said: "There have been no studies using this device and any studies using CO2 were using specific protocols and controlling different factors in the study that may not be suitable for real-world situations."
It also previously included a disclaimer saying the "CO2inhaler" was not "approved to diagnose, cure or treat any diseases."
But as of November 2025, this language is not currently available on the website.
The company does disclose an affiliate program that pays commission to those who tout their carbon dioxide-based therapies.
AFP asked the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) if it had reviewed devices from Carbogenetics for safety, but a response was not forthcoming.
Queries for "Carbogenetics" and "CO2inhalers" yielded no results from the online catalog of cleared and approved medical device information from the FDA (archived here).
1958 'study'
On X, the claims about alleged benefits of "CO2 inhalations" have circulated since at least 2024, referencing a "study" said to be from 1958.
Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok, which has spewed offensive and untrue responses to X users in the past, has also touted these findings on the purported benefits of CO2 therapy.
Keyword searches on Google for academic work on "carbon dioxide therapy" published in 1958 yielded the citation for a book on CO2 exposure published by Hungarian neuropathologist and neuropsychiatrist Ladislas Meduna called: "Carbon dioxide therapy; a neurophysiological treatment of nervous disorders" (archived here and here).
AFP found a scan of the title from 1958, which contained the same table shared on social media, credited to "A.I Jackman M.D." -- an academic who studied carbon dioxide therapy dating back to the 1950s (archived here).
But Tiller said the 1950s research has not been replicated and relied on a "ludicrous theory on how to treat psychomotor disorders."
The United States Department of Agriculture says: "CO2 is considered to be minimally toxic by inhalation," noting health effects in workers exposed to elevated CO2 levels in various environments (archived here and here).
Read more of AFP's investigations misleading and potentially harmful health trends here.
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