Original article (in Slovenian) was published on 24/11/2024; Author: Lara Drugovič
Roman Jerala of the National Institute of Chemistry says the water found in the environment and in the human body is “exactly the same molecule.”
On 31 October a Facebook user published a post, which has since been shared 380 times and commented on by 40 users, claiming that “the water in the body is not H₂O, it is H₃O₂,” and that so-called structured water “creates charge separation” and acts like a battery because it “stores energy from sunlight, infrared heat and vibrations.”
Claims about H₃O₂ had previously been examined by Politifact, like Oštro a member of the IFCN fact-checking network. In 2023, Politifact reviewed the claim that water with the formula H₃O₂ is better to drink than H₂O because it is allegedly more structured. As chemistry professor Timothy Schmidt from the University of New South Wales in Australia explained, H₃O₂ is a “mythical” structure whose existence has not been proven. He added that a substance with such a chemical formula would not be safe to consume and would likely convert into hydrogen peroxide and water.
In an article published in August 2022, Schmidt explained that so-called structured water has no scientific basis. He noted that the term “structured water” and the chemical formula H₃O₂ originate from experiments by Gerald Pollack, a professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington. Pollack found that water near hydrophilic surfaces (surfaces which attract water and are also present in the human body) forms an “exclusion zone” that repels certain substances, such as microplastic particles or ink. He attributed this to the water’s structure allegedly changing into H₃O₂ in that zone.
Whereas Pollack claims this H₃O₂ molecule has a hexagonal structure, Schmidt argues that such a substance would be unstable and would not be liquid.
H₂O is liquid because hydrogen atoms within water molecules exchange rapidly, and experiments show its basic structure is stable: any new molecular arrangement that forms in it disappears quickly. The same would be true for H₃O₂, Schmidt said.
He acknowledges that Pollack’s observations concerning water in the exclusion zone deserve attention, but attributes them to well-known phenomena such as surface tension and the fact that water “behaves differently if it is confined in a very small space.”
According to Schmidt, the water Pollack describes cannot be anything other than H₂O. “Pollack does not propose the H₃O₂ structure in a peer-reviewed publication, and other explanations have been put forth to explain his published experimental findings,” he said.
Schmidt warns that “structured water” is used in marketing scams, where sellers deploy scientific-sounding terms that are meaningless and based on misinterpretations of Pollack’s work. While Pollack distances himself from most of these companies, he nevertheless runs his own “structured-water” business selling water filters, Schmidt notes.
Matija Tomšič, a professor at the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, University of Ljubljana said he had never heard of an H₃O₂ molecule and found no relevant scientific literature mentioning it. Jerneja Ambrožič Avguštin, a professor at the Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana similarly told Razkrinkavanje.si that “there is in fact no relevant scientific literature” on H₃O₂.
Professor Roman Jerala, head of the Department for Synthetic Biology and Immunology at the National Institute of Chemistry, said there is no research or evidence showing that the H₃O₂ molecule exists in the human body or in any other organism.
He added that claims about energy storage in this hypothetical molecule are not scientifically supported. If such a molecule did exist, he said, it would be easy to prove because “energy storage could be directly measured with highly sensitive physical methods.”
Jerala emphasised that water is essential for life because “key reactions important for life take place in aqueous solutions.” The water found in the environment and inside the human body, he said, is “molecularly identical in every respect.”
The author of the social-media post declined to participate in the preparation of this article and did not provide an explanation for his claims, saying he was exercising his legal right not to engage with the media.
The claims that “the water in the body is not H₂O, it is H₃O₂” and that this molecule “creates charge separation” and acts like a battery by “storing energy from sunlight, infrared heat and vibrations” are false.
