The most essential nutrient: are you getting enough? Dr. Sharon Willingham reminds us of the body's important and often forgotten about necessity ... oxygen.

No vitamin C? Scurvy in three months. No vitamin D? Osteoporosis in three decades. No oxygen? Death or brain damage in three to ten minutes. Sounds like oxygen's the winner for the body's most essential nutrient.

Nutrients like vitamins C and D are easily supplied to the body through specific foods and/or in supplement form. How, though, can you increase the availability of oxygen?

Breathe more oxygen, right? It's not that easy. Room air contains enough oxygen (at a 21-percent concentration) to fill most of the oxygen-binding sites inside our red blood cells. Breathing even 100 percent oxygen only fills the few remaining sites, and it increases the blood level of oxygen by only a small percentage. Although this can be life saving in many instances, it is insufficient in others.

Thousands of people every year are affected by an event or condition that causes some body tissues to live in a perpetually low oxygen state. This includes many people who have had an injury, a surgical wound or skin graft, plastic surgery, a limb reattachment, radiation therapy, burns, head trauma, or poisoning. Recent studies suggest it is also true for some people who have had a stroke, have cerebral palsy, or who have autism or chronic viruses. In each of these challenges, there are cells around the area of injury that do not get sufficient oxygen to function at their best. The cells aren't dead, but they have too little of the essential nutrient to do their jobs. They are on idle, so to speak.

Cells in areas of low oxygen can be given a new lease on life by receiving oxygen in a different way. In the same way that forcing carbonation into a can of flavored water can create a bubbly soda, oxygen can be encouraged to "dissolve" into body fluids to nourish body tissues more deeply. This is accomplished by increasing the pressure under which the oxygen is breathed. Pressure is provided by placing the person in an above-normal pressure chamber, or hyperbaric oxygen chamber. The chamber is sealed, and pressure inside is slowly increased to a level appropriate for the person's condition. Extra oxygen is often supplied but is not necessary for results. A treatment session will usually require an hour or more to accomplish; the frequency depends upon the condition being addressed. Some conditions require only a few treatments, while others respond best to ongoing sessions.

Not too long ago, hyperbaric oxygen chambers were only available in a few specialized facilities, usually hospitals. Initially, these chambers were primarily used to treat deep-sea divers who surfaced too quickly, resulting in "the Bends." These individuals would be pressurized back to their dive pressure and then be decompressed at a slower rate. Gradually, other applications have been discovered. It is now widely accepted that HyperBaric Oxygen Therapy, or HBOT, can facilitate improvement of a variety of conditions, even years after a problem has first occurred.

Currently, HBOT is officially approved for conditions such as cyanide or carbon monoxide poisoning, smoke inhalation, decompression sickness (the Bends), crush injuries, poor wound healing, tissue damage from radiation, skin grafts and limb reattachments. Applications are expanding, and HBOT is now being used "off-label" for the improvement of stroke, autism, multiple sclerosis, plastic surgery, heart attack, near drowning, sports injuries, Lyme disease, head trauma and other conditions.

Results of HBOT depend on the individual and their specific problem. Not everyone achieves the desired result, and studies are underway to help decide who will have the best outcomes. Often, however, results are remarkable. Healing time can improve, spasticity can be reduced or disappear, the ability to perform tasks can be regained or appear for the first time, inflammation can improve and other symptoms can become a thing of the past. For example, the World Federation of Neurology has devised a specific protocol for the use of HBOT in the treatment of some types of strokes.

Further research and the development of soft-sided portable chambers that supply a lower level of pressure (at a much improved price) have helped HBOT become an option for use with many more conditions. These so-called "mild hyperbaric" chambers are appearing in physicians' offices, in outpatient facilities and even in homes. They are being used to improve outcomes in most of the areas mentioned above as "off-label," as well as in performance and wellness. Although there are few contraindications to HBOT, it is important that you be assessed by a physician to determine the appropriateness of adding HBOT to your care plan. So, on your path toward wellness, ask yourself, "Is my body getting enough of the most essential nutrient?"

Sharon Willingham, M.D. is a physician at Asheville Integrative Medicine (AIM), located at 832 Hendersonville Road in Asheville, NC, where research-based health care, including mild HBOT, is offered. She can be reached by phone at 828-252-5545 or through AIM's website at www.docbiddle.com.