Let us analyze the science behind why the unique formulation of Aquatize® kills pathogens so effectively without damaging animal cells or beneficial microbes. In marked contrast, most competing disinfectants damage all three.
Aquatize® is composed of sodium chlorite (NaClO2 - 3.67%), sodium chlorate (NaClO3 – 1.45%) and several other substances which serve to stabilize the product. Sodium chlorite (NaClO2) is common in many household products like mouthwashes, toothpastes, chewing gums and contact lens solution. Most importantly, chlorite is used as a precursor to chlorine dioxide, a drinking water disinfectant that has been used for more than a century. On the other hand, sodium chlorate (NaClO3) is completely different in its chemical structure, market availability, and reactivity. Despite sodium chlorate’s reactivity, the amount present in Aquatize® is formulated and compounded with other substances to fortify and make it safe enough to have obtained a US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approval for use in animal drinking water. But as we shall see, even though there is not a high concentration of sodium chlorate, its presence may be a major reason why Aquatize® out performs other products in its class.
The US EPA has approved use of Aquatize® against eleven microbial pathogens listed below. Aquatize® killed 99.999% of these microbes at dilutions of 1:2000 or 1:5000 and at exposure times ranging from 5 to 10 minutes -- an impressive accomplishment.
| Campylobacter jejuni | Enterococcus faecalis | Escherichia coli |
| Escherichia coli 0157:H7 | Listeria monocytogenes | Pasturella multocida |
| Pseudomonas aeruginosa | Salmonella enteritidis | Salmonella typhimurium |
| Shigella dysenteriae | Streptococcus suis |
An independent study compared standard sodium chlorite to Aquatize® and found that both were effective in killing bacteria like E. coli, but Aquatize® was 42 times more effective than industrial-strength sodium chlorite. This indicates that either the combination of all the oxidizing agents in Aquatize® -- or perhaps chlorate alone -- is responsible for these large selective effects. Below are the results from the study comparing Aquatize® and commercial sodium chlorite against a pathogenic E. coli:
| Dilution of product tested | Aquatize® | Sodium Chlorite, 31% |
|---|---|---|
| 1:50 | 0 CFU of E. coli survived | 0 CFU of E. coli survived |
| 1:100 | 0 | 50 CFU survived |
| 1:500 | 0 | 2,000 CFU |
| 1:1000 | 0 | @ 10,000 CFU |
| 1:2000 | 0 | > 100,000 CFU |
| 1:3500 | 300, CFU survived | > 100,000 CFU |
| 1:5000 | @10,000 CFU survived | > 100,000 CFU |
Most intestinal pathogens are able to out-grow lactic acid and other gastro-intestinal tract (GIT) bacteria (“good bacteria”) in the oxygen-limited spots of the GIT. This occurs because most pathogens are more efficient at obtaining energy from the substances present in the GIT than the good bacteria. This allows the pathogens to displace beneficial microbes and eventually leads to sickness or death in animals.
Nitrogen is one of the central building blocks of all life. To survive, microbes assimilate enormous amounts of nitrogen into a more biologically available form. That process is called nitrogen fixation. The opposite is denitrification -- the process of reducing nitrate (NO3) and nitrite (NO2) into gaseous nitrogen. The denitrification process appears to be the unique capability shared by the above eleven pathogens, but not necessarily shared by the good bacteria.
Many microbes use an enzyme system called nitrate reductase to reduce nitrate to nitrite and eventually to gaseous nitrogen. This capability is vital for many pathogens to compete in a wide variety of environments.
Scientists have overwhelming evidence that one of the best analogs of nitrate is chlorate. Chlorate is very similar to nitrate so the nitrate reductase enzyme system is tricked into accidentally binding and processing the chlorate. Instead of reducing nitrate to nitrite, the nitrate reductase enzyme mistakenly reduces chlorate to chlorite -- a much stronger oxidizing agent than nitrite – which is then deposited on the inside of the cell. Consequently, chlorite oxidizes the cellular machinery until finally the pathogen dies.
Most of the good bacteria in the GIT do not have the nitrate reductase enzyme and therefore do not accidentally reduce the chlorate to chlorite. Therefore, the good bacteria are unaffected by the presence of chlorate in the GIT. Moreover, animal cells also do not possess nitrate reductase enzyme systems, and are not impacted by the chlorate to chlorite chemical reaction.
This is one major reason that Aquatize®’s unique formulation containing the powerful oxidizing agent, chlorate, kills pathogens while not harming mucosal cells and beneficial bacteria in the gastro-intestinal tract of animals.
Chlorite contributes to the potency of Aquatize® even though it appears to be less effective at inactivating pathogens than the chlorate component. Chlorite may also be converted chemically into chlorine dioxide, a well-known, broad-spectrum disinfectant.
As Aquatize® passes into the acid environment of the stomach (pH 2.0) enough chlorine dioxide is formed from chlorite to kill pathogens; however, the killing mechanism is uncertain. Scientists are unsure whether chlorine dioxide kills pathogens by oxidizing fatty acids and proteins in their outer membranes, by oxidizing essential amino acids cysteine, tryptophan and tyrosine, by oxidizing their nucleic acids, or whether all of these reactions contribute to pathogen inactivation.
Regardless of which mechanism is operative, all microbial cells living in the GIT have proteins and fats in their outer membranes, contain exposed cysteine, tryptophan and tyrosine, and all possess nucleic acids that are sensitive to chlorine dioxide. Thus, the chlorine dioxide generated from the chlorite in Aquatize® would not likely spare obligate anaerobes such as the lactic acid-forming and other normal resident microbes or mucosal cells of the GIT.
While it is logical that chlorine dioxide could be generated in the stomach of the animal, it is not likely that chlorine dioxide is the only active oxidizing agent available from Aquatize® in the GIT. The only chemical component of Aquatize® that fulfills the scientific requirement of killing pathogens without killing the good microbes and the mucosal cells lining the GIT is chlorate.