How bad is salt

[miltonhork]

Biologically speaking, salt (sodium) plays a major role in human health. It not only feeds nutritional mineral elements to our cells, it also dissolves, sanitizes and cleanses toxic wastes from our system. It is this latter function that makes salt such a healing substance. All classic biology textbooks refer to salt as the cleanser of bodily fluids.

Most physiological and biological processes function correctly only when sufficient quantities of sodium are present. For example, the body makes hydrochloric acid from salt. (Hydrochloric acid is one of our essential digestive fluids.) In a healthy person, the quantity of salt retained in the tissues remains constant. Any excess sodium ingested is automatically eliminated through the kidneys. However, if disease is present, this elimination of excess salt is impaired, and excess salt deposits are created; or sudden loss if internal salt can occur.

When stress or infection demand an extra supply of salt, our body reserves are used. Addison's disease, pylorus blockage, ulcers and gastric cancers can create a critical loss of chloride ions and lower the sodium chloride in the digestive system causing a shortage of hydrochloric acid in gastric juices. These losses of chlorine and sodium inhibit the cell's self-cleansing function resulting in the blood becoming loaded with toxins. This, in turn, can act on the nervous system and create a chain reaction of new losses of sodium chloride, which in extreme cases can be fatal.

Salt is also responsible for the balance of acids and bases within the body. When salt enters the body it dissolves into ions (also called electrolytes because they carry electrical current). With this in mind, the water balance role of salt may be easier to understand. Water is a necessary part of all body cells but cells have no way to hold onto water molecules directly. They can only move ions around and water will follow ions. So the cells direct where the ions go, the water follows and this determines where the fluids go.