Have you ever heard someone say, “I have to watch my salt intake”? I have. As well I have had patients tell me their doctors have told them salt is salt, regardless what kind of salt it is!

Let’s look at the issue of salt also called sodium, element symbol Na on the periodic table.

Sodium is essential for many functions in our body.  Let’s start with muscle contractions.  Muscle contractions are more than just the muscles in our legs or arms, think about your heart, it is a contracting muscle.  Sodium is needed for nerve transmissions, sending a message from one part of the body to another part.  Think of the brain and how it sends messages, telling the body when, where and how to work together.  Sodium is needed to take fluids from the outside of a cell and pumps fluid into a cell, which then allows potassium to take the byproducts out of a cell.  Have you ever had a drink of water and felt like it just went straight to your bladder and you were urinating all the time? That is because you need sodium to hydrate your body or more technically for your cells to penetrate through parts of your body.  I am sure ever one has heard of maintaining a good ph balance, sodium helps a body to do just that.  I think you can agree sodium is needed for many vital aspects or the overall function of the body, which in turn will provide good health.

Most people eat table salt or eat processed food that has table salt in it.  Table salt is sodium chloride, or NaCl, usually 40% sodium and 60% chloride.  The body needs Na sodium, NaCl is not what the body needs!  As well most table salt, NaCl isn’t just sodium chloride, they usually have some sort of anti caking agent in them.  A common anti caking agent is known as yellow prussiate of soda, could be labeled YPS. Another is ferric ferrocyanide, also called Prussian Blue. I noticed the word cyanide within the word ferrocyanide.  This is what the web site Medscape had to say about cyanide, “Cyanide affects virtually all body tissues, attaching itself to ubiquitous metalloenzymes and rendering them inactive. Its principal toxicity results from inactivation of cytochrome oxidase (at cytochrome a3), thus uncoupling mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation and inhibiting cellular respiration, even in the presence of adequate oxygen stores. Cellular metabolism shifts from aerobic to anaerobic, with the consequent production of lactic acid. Consequently, the tissues with the highest oxygen requirements (brain and heart) are the most profoundly affected by acute cyanide poisoning.”  Thus it is true you need to watch your salt intake if you are talking about table salt. In fact you need to watch every food you put into your body that is a processed food with table salt as part of its ingredients.  Beware of labeling.  The label might not state table salt, or even sodium chloride.

Dr. Otto Warburg stated that cancer should be called a mitochondrial disease. You just read what Medscape stated about cyanide.  Cyanide affects the mitochondrial.

Another anti caking agent is potassium aluminium silicate also called E555, or calcium aluminosilicte E 556.  I am sure you recognize the word aluminum.  Aluminum has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

In my opinion, the only salt a person should take is unprocessed full spectrum mineral salts. Word of caution, sea salt is not always full spectrum unprocessed mineral salt.  Unprocessed is really the key.

So the next time someone tells you salt is salt, you can tell them, they are wrong.

Diane Elms D.H.M.H.S, CCI, CCII, specialist in drugless cancer care, Homeopath, 2006 Iridologist of the Year. If you have any health related questions please feel free to contact Diane at diane@choicesforhealthandharmony.com or 905 768 0848.