Salt Poisoning
by Charlotte Gerson
Salt Poisoning was the title of a videotaped study presented a number of years ago by the University of Tennessee. We happened to see it on TV when it was shown. The report was mainly concerned with the relationship between salt consumption and its effect on blood pressure.
The study covered various areas of the world which differ in their use of salt. It showed, for instance, a population in a northern island of Japan who use unusually high amounts of salt in their foods. The findings of the researchers were that these people also had a much higher than average incidence of high blood pressure at an early age.
Another group studied were people living in deep rural areas of Ethiopia, a good distance from large population areas and coastal cities. In these ‘back woods’ areas, little if any salt found its way to the people, and their foods were unsalted. The researchers also noted that there was virtually no incidence of high blood pressure among these people. Elderly people in particular showed a drop in blood pressure.
The only time that high blood pressure occurred was in young men when they were drafted into the army and given the regular, salted diet. However, when they returned to their native villages, and their salt-free foods, the problem disappeared.
These findings were not surprising, of course, since high blood pressure and salt consumption had long been associated. Most people in the Western civilized countries consume too much salt, more than the body can easily excrete. The excretion takes place through the bowel, the kidneys, perspiration, even through tears.
However, and this was new to me, there is also a rather high level of salt in the saliva in people who cannot excrete enough sodium through the normal channels. These are the people who pour salt on their foods before even tasting them. Their saliva is so salty that they cannot taste any food without adding still more salt.
Dr. Gerson talks a great deal about the problems of excess salt (sodium chloride) in our diet. He became aware, very early in his nutritional studies, that excess salt was one of the major causes of disease.
He felt that the first problem of a body which is degenerating is the penetration of salt into the cells (tissues). Sodium is also known as the extra-cellular mineral. In other words, it should not be found in the cells, but belongs in the serum (the body fluids, including the blood). Potassium is the mineral which belongs in the cells, or the intracellular mineral .The penetration of salt into the cells changes the cell metabolism. The body, in its attempt to decrease the damage caused by this excess sodium, binds the sodium with water, to dilute its toxic effect. This excess water in the tissues is called edema.
According to the studies of Dixon and Webb, in their book Enzymes (1965), sodium acts as an enzyme inhibitor in the majority of enzymes these authors studied. Enzyme inhibitor is also one definition of "poison" Dr. Gerson was very much aware that he had to Ijelp the body to get rid of the excess sodium and help it to restore potassium to the tissues and organs. To accomplish this goal, he restricted sodium intake and added large amounts of potassium compounds to an already high potassium vegetarian diet.
Our point here is the problem most people have when they first start to eat an entirely salt-free diet. You hear: “The food is flat; I can’t taste anything.’’ This also tends to reduce the new patient’s appetite. But there is encouraging news:
After about 5 to 10 days, with the high potassium / low sodium diet, the high amount of salt in the saliva is gone. The body has elimated most of the excess sodium – along with edema in the legs, abdomen, etc. And patients report that they are starting to like the taste of soup. Foods now have taste to them. Of course, the foods are the same, but the patients’ saliva is changed.
After about two years on the Gerson Therapy, at the time when the patient is well and could, theoretically, go back to a more or less “normal” diet, he will no longer be interested in adding salt to his food. His taste buds not only do not require it – salt has become irritating and distasteful!
During these first days, we try to help the patients to make the foods tasty by encouraging them to add garlic to their foods – the soup, salad, vegetables, everything. One overly zealous lady, being told that garlic is also very healthful, even added garlic to her oatmeal!
We had one particularly dramatic response to the Gerson Therapy in a patient. She had been biopsied and diagnosed with lymphoma.
It was inoperable because one large mass was wrapped around her aorta. She experienced an exceptionally severe edema, not only in her legs and feet, and abdomen (ascitis), but also in her hips and buttocks, which were hugely distended.
In only 5 days she lost 27 pounds – all fluid – and her legs, feet, abdomen, hips, and buttocks were completely normal. Then the body proceded to also break down the tumor tissue, and after 8 months, her large, watermelon sized tumor in the abdomen was gone. Now, after about 1 ½ years, she is well, engaged in her singing career, active and happy.
This patient sent me her doctor’s findings after about eight months on the therapy. He noted that, rather surprisingly, her edema had been “resolved” (cleared). He also commented that the large mass in her abdomen was no longer palpable (could not be felt). He went on to say that the patient wished to continue this therapy in spite of the high level of work it involved, and that she “still refused chemotherapy”! He also remarked that she was showing a "severe carotinemia.” In other words, her skin was showing the typical orangish carotin discoloration, which is completely harmless!
