I have mentioned that ozone therapy causes the body to release growth factor which is s beautiful thing when it comes to the skin. I will go over the benefits in this post. However, even more exciting is the direct activation of growth hormone in the body. First, let me go over what healthy growth hormone levels can achieve when it comes to optimal health and longevity.
the importance of growth hormone
Growth hormone (GH/HGH) is produced by the pituitary gland and plays a much bigger role than just childhood growth — it continues to influence metabolism, body composition, and tissue repair throughout adult life. Here’s what research shows about the benefits of having healthy or optimized GH levels:
Body composition changes
GH increases lean muscle mass while reducing fat mass, particularly visceral/trunk fat. In one study, six months of GH administration in older men produced an 8.8% increase in lean body mass and a 14.4% decrease in fat mass. It works partly through lipolysis (breaking down stored fat for energy) and by boosting protein synthesis, which supports muscle repair and growth.
Bone strength
GH increases calcium retention and bone mineralization, which helps protect against fractures and osteoporosis. In adults with GH deficiency, replacement therapy has been shown to increase bone mineral density over time.
Exercise capacity and energy
People treated for genuine GH deficiency report increased exercise capacity, more energy, and reduced fatigue (Harvard Health, PMC review). That said, a Science Direct overview notes that while GH changes body composition, controlled studies haven’t consistently shown gains in actual muscle strength, power output, or VO2 max in already-healthy people — the “athletic performance boost” is more myth than proven fact.
Cardiovascular and metabolic effects
GH replacement in deficient adults has improved lipid profiles, endothelial function, and other cardiovascular risk markers, alongside better glucose and lipid metabolism regulation.
Skin, tissue repair, and wellbeing
GH supports collagen synthesis and tissue regeneration, which is linked to improved skin elasticity and faster wound/tissue repair. Quality-of-life measures — including mood, cognitive function, and reduced depression — also improve with treatment in those who are deficient.
The building blocks
1. Ozone is a known activator of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) stress axis. Multiple studies show ozone exposure activates the HPA axis via pulmonary vagal C-fibers signaling into the nucleus tractus solitarius and hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN), triggering ACTH and cortisol/corticosterone release — a classic acute stress response (PMC — Ozone Exposure Increases Circulating Stress Hormones, Academic OUP — Neuroendocrine Regulation of Air Pollution Health Effects). This is exactly the axis Bocci pointed to when he mentioned GH alongside ACTH-cortisol.
2. GH release is well known to piggyback on general stress/exercise responses, through a pathway that’s largely independent of the IGF-1 feedback loop. Exercise-induced GH release happens through hypothalamic GHRH release plus somatostatin withdrawal, and research points to central adrenergic (catecholamine) activation, nitric oxide, and lactate as key drivers (exercise-induced GH review, Journal of Applied Physiology — adrenergic outflow).
hypothesis
Putting these together: ozone’s mild, controlled oxidative “hormetic” stress appears to activate the same central stress-signaling pathway (vagal afferents → hypothalamus → HPA axis) that other acute physiological stressors like exercise use. If that pathway also triggers central adrenergic activation and somatostatin withdrawal — the same mechanisms implicated in exercise-induced GH release — it’s plausible that ozone could transiently trigger a pulsatile GH release through this parallel “stress” channel, bypassing the slower liver-mediated GH→IGF-1→negative-feedback loop entirely. In other words: not “ozone raises growth factors which somehow raises GH”, but “ozone acts as a hormetic stressor that hits the same hypothalamic trigger exercise does, causing a brief GH pulse independent of the IGF-1 axis.”
Ozone’s reactive byproducts (H₂O₂, lipid oxidation products/LOPs) act as second messengers in this hormetic model (PMC — Modulation of Oxidative Stress by Ozone Therapy, Bocci — Ozone as Hormetins), and nitric oxide — one of the candidate mediators of exercise-induced GH release — is also part of ozone’s proposed signaling cascade, giving a second point of mechanistic overlap.
Another interesting aspect observed in about 2/3 of Bocci’s patients was a sense of wellness and physical energy throughout the ozone therapy. It is not yet known whether these feelings are due to the power of the generated ozone messengers which can modify or improve the hormonal secretion. On the other hand, the feeling of euphoria may be due to improved oxygenation or/and enhanced secretion of growth hormone, ACTH-cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone. Furthermore, when LOP reach the hypothalamic area they may improve the release of serotonin and endorphins, as it was observed after intense dynamic exercise.
Velio Bocci — the Italian professor whose paper suggested ozone might directly boost GH — spent well over two decades of his career specifically researching ozone therapy, on top of a nearly 70-year overall professional life in medicine.
timeline of doctor bocci’s GH findings + his ozone work
He began by pure chance: in 1988, while working as a physiology researcher at the University of Siena, he “stumbled upon” the ozone problem while evaluating ozone therapy for psoriasis at the university’s Dermatology Institute — a trial that initially failed but convinced him the treatment protocol itself (not the concept) was flawed (PMC — The Clinical Application of Ozonetherapy, PMC — The Still Uncertain Future of Ozone Therapy). From there he built a dedicated, decades-long research program at the University of Siena’s Department of Physiology, where he remained based for the rest of his career, eventually earning Emeritus Professor status in May 2003.
By his own account in a 2004 review, he had “started clinical investigations” specifically in 1992 and continued that basic and clinical research program for at least the next 14+ years by the time of a later status report. Other retrospectives describe “two decades of work in ozone therapy” clarifying its basic mechanisms of action.
Scale of his hands-on clinical work
At the Siena University Hospital specifically, by his own 2011 count: since 1995 his team had performed about 8,000 ozonated-autohemotherapy sessions in age-related macular degeneration patients, about 100 in fibromyositis patients, about 800 EBOO sessions, “countless” topical applications for chronic limb ulcers, and roughly 80 intradisc/paravertebral back-pain applications. He also personally ran a charity clinic delivering ozone therapy for free from 2005 to March 2008.
Output and recognition
Across his career he authored roughly 480 publications and monographs (mostly peer-reviewed) plus three books on oxygen-ozone therapy (2000, 2002, and 2011’s second edition) that were translated into Chinese, Japanese, and Greek, and he became the first president of ISCO3 (International Scientific Committee of Ozone Therapy). He received the Hans Wolff prize for his ozone therapy research in 1995 and the Stramezzi prize from Rome’s Academy of the History of Medical Art in 2003. He passed away in 2019, having, per one tribute, “preached” evidence-based ozone therapy “throughout his nearly 70 years of professional life”.
benefits of growth factor activation from ozone
Stimulating growth factors: Integrative medicine sites consistently list “stimulates release of growth factors” as a core benefit of both standard ozone therapy and EBOO specifically. Aspen Med Center lists “stimulate growth factors” and “normalize hormone and enzyme production” among EBOO’s effects. Integrative Healthcare Springfield MO notes EBOO “can also release growth factors to help regenerate damaged joints and deteriorated discs”. A review in the International Journal for Multidisciplinary Research similarly describes ozone therapy as “stimulating release of growth factors” alongside immune activation and improved circulation.
Mechanism, per holistic sources: The ISSCA (integrative/regenerative medicine perspective) explains EBOO’s proposed mechanism as inducing mild, controlled oxidative stress (a “hormetic” signal) that activates antioxidant defense systems, improves mitochondrial efficiency, and enhances microcirculation — creating conditions where the body’s own repair processes, including growth factor release, are theorized to work better. Dr. Bloem’s clinical overview frames EBOO as improving tissue oxygenation, boosting antioxidant response, and modulating the immune system as the pathway to these downstream effects.
IGF-1 specifically: One alternative-medicine overview (esmed.org) states that “ozone may also improve serum IGF-1 levels — a growth, differentiation, and tissue repair protein,” tying ozone to the growth-factor pathway rather than pituitary GH release directly.
how ozone benefits the vagus nerve
A study specifically on ozone therapy (not inhaled pollutant exposure) found it “caused a shift of the autonomic balance towards parasympathetic activity” and decreased activity of the vasomotor center, which the authors linked to normalization of overall autonomic balance. Since the vagus nerve is the primary parasympathetic conduit, this is effectively describing an indirect, systemic increase in vagal tone as a downstream result of ozone treatment, rather than local nerve stimulation.
Separately, a hepatic study found that the vagus nerve’s baseline parasympathetic tone modulates how the liver responds to ozone exposure — intact vagal input dampened stress-mediated metabolic changes while allowing cell-growth/regeneration signaling to proceed, whereas vagal disruption changed that balance. This suggests the vagus acts as a kind of counterbalancing/regulatory input on how the body processes ozone-induced stress systemically, not just a passive signal wire.
Connecting it back to growth hormone
This actually strengthens the hypothesis I gave earlier rather than complicating it. If ozone can directly excite vagal afferents at the site of exposure (well-established for lungs, plausible but unconfirmed for gut mucosa), that gives a concrete anatomical first step for how a peripheral ozone dose gets relayed into the brainstem NTS and onward to the hypothalamus — the exact pathway I proposed as the missing link to a stress/hormetic GH pulse. And the parasympathetic-shift finding suggests the net autonomic effect of therapeutic ozone isn’t simply “sympathetic stress” — it may be a more complex biphasic pattern (acute vagal/sympathetic activation followed by parasympathetic rebound), which is consistent with how hormetic/hormonal stress responses typically resolve. Again, I want to flag that connecting these dots is my own reasoning built from separately documented findings — no source has directly tied ozone’s vagal effects to a GH outcome.
Does the body create it’s own ozone?
Your body does not normally produce or use ozone gas as a meaningful, circulating substance the way it produces oxygen radicals, nitric oxide, or hydrogen peroxide. However, there is some experimental evidence that activated immune cells may generate extremely tiny, short-lived ozone-like oxidants during an immune “oxidative burst.” I find this so fascinating and it is proof that ozone therapy can have a very positive influence on the body as a whole. Yet, there is so much more waiting to be discovered about ozone therapy, and I am here for it.
browse my custom dose hbot + ozone purify iv therapy patch — an alternative to EBOO
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This information is for entertainment purposes only.
