A UK company has created the first consumer drinks product scientifically proven to substantially increase the body’s ability to transport oxygen. Taken as a sachet mixed with water, the product – called ‘Ei8ht Energy’ – increases the body’s ability to transport oxygen by close to five per cent for at least 80 minutes after ingestion.

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In an independent efficacy study carried out by Surrey University’s Human Performance Institute, the new drink helped cyclists benefit from an average 37-second time improvement over a 16km time trial and delivered a 6.6-per-cent average increase in peak power output.

 

The increase in oxygen readily available to the body and speed at which this is achieved – less than five minutes – makes this a completely unique product and one with the potential to shake up the global consumer drinks industry. 

 

‘Micro-bubbles’

 

Avrox Technologies, a research & manufacturing company based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, has been developing the product for the past five years, working alongside researchers from the University of Oxford. 

 

The unique feature of the product is a patented oxygen delivery system. This system utilises natural, vegan ingredients to create molecules that are capable of capturing oxygen, retaining it and then delivering it to the body. Users simply mix a sachet with water and then shake for 30 seconds. This shaking motion creates friction, which, in turn, stimulates the production and activation of micro-bubbles capable of carrying oxygen when entering the bloodstream. Ready to drink, the micro-bubbles – haemoglobin like structures which are 500 times thinner than a human hair – are ingested, passing through the stomach wall and into the bloodstream in as little as four and a half minutes, ready to pair with oxygen.

 

Ei8ht Energy also includes high levels of vitamin B3 and B12, known for their energy and immune function properties respectively, both delivered to the body in the same way as the oxygen.

 

Scientifically proven product

 

Entrepreneur Ray Averre founded Avrox, while Professor Eleanor Stride, Professor of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford, was a fundamental figure in its development. “Our core aim when we started out was to develop a consumer product that genuinely and demonstrably enhanced the body’s ability to transport oxygen, to deliver proper health and performance benefits,” he told Food & Beverage Networker. “A lot of claims in the sector are driven from a marketing point of view, but we wanted to create a scientifically proven product – and we have achieved that emphatically. An increase in the body’s ability to transport oxygen of around five per cent for an 80-minute period after ingestion is a significant result and completely unique in the marketplace.”

 

Health and performance related benefits

 

The motivation behind the product’s development stemmed from Mr Averre’s exasperation at the lack of science behind many of the claims on the sides of energy drinks bottles. He then happened to see a BBC4 programme called ‘Pop! The Science of Bubbles’, which featured Professor Stride discussing the use of micro-bubbles to administer cancer treatments. Mr Averre reached out to Prof. Stride off the back of this programme and the project began.

 

As the research and development got underway and the patented technology was developed, its first application was actually within cancer treatment trials. Cancerous tumours are oxygen-starved environments and so the micro-bubbles were used to transport oxygen directly into those cells. The technology went on to win a Cancer Research UK award in 2016 for ideas ‘Outside the Box’. From there, the wider health and performance related benefits began to be explored and the application within a drink was developed. 

 

Ray Averre and Professor Eleanor Stride both hope that the success of their consumer product will enable them to channel additional funds into ongoing cancer research.

 

Sachets of Ei8ht Energy are available from £4.99 for a pack of two.

 

To find out more, visit: www.avrox.co.uk