EDITORIAL

SALT-Essential to Life

Since the beginning of time, man has been fighting over salt and the rights to distribute salt. And rightly so, for human life if very dependent on common table salt (sodium chloride) for its very existence. The human body requires salt to maintain a ratio of salts in the body very close to that of sea water.

When environmental temperatures increase and the body begins to perspire, those essential salts leave the body in the perspiration. They must be replaced. In the US Navy, workers in the fire rooms and engine rooms must supplement their normal intake of salt by taking salt tablets provided by Navy doctors to maintain this essential ratio.

Unfortunately we have no such safeguards in normal daily life. No one is telling us to take these essential salts. Instead, because of the poor education of our doctors and health workers, an attempt is made to control blood pressure by the elimination of salts from he diet. Not only are such attempts misguided, but increase the number of deaths when temperatures increase.

What is the first lead attached to emergency room patients? In most cases it is the Normal Saline drip. Emergency medicine recognizes this need for normal salt balance, but the rest of the medical and health community ignores these basic needs.

Don't let his happen to you. With summer coming on it is important to be able to withstand the tremendous days of heat ahead. And for those who are restricting their salt intake, it is critical to discuss this with your doctor. Take your health into your own hands. Investigate the statements that I have made. Check with your doctor. Check the library. Search the internet. Don't accept anyone's recommendations without investigation. Read widely, live long, and prosper.

Jim Bruun.

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