Sep 296 min read

Salts and Hydration

Updated: Oct 1

In a previous blog titled "....Salts...." I provide a formula for a salt mixture everyone should use as their salt source. The only exceptions are those with severe kidney disease. However, even people with that condition may benefit from the salts (and proper hydration) under practitioner supervision.

According to Barbara O'Neill of Livings Springs Retreat, the most vital nutrients for life - in order - are:

Oxygen
Water
Sodium
Potassium

Thus, getting these in the suitable form and concentration is the first step in anyone's health journey.

Here is the formula. I use this in everything - coffee, tea, food, drinking water, and water I use when exercising. You can use it in all your foods and water because, according to the video linked below, salts are the 3rd and 4th most important thing to take in daily to support life and health.

SALT FORMULA: I make a large batch and store it in a sealed container for distribution to shakers, or I just sprinkle it on everything with my fingers or a small spoon! I always take some with me when I travel - in some type of container - ziplock or other.

2 Cups (or 2 parts - whatever size measuring scoop you use) sodium salt (of your choice - preferably unrefined - Celtic salt is reported to contain the most minerals)

1 Cup (or 1 part) potassium salt. Here is a product I use:

https://www.pipingrock.com/potassium/potassium-chloride-powder-408-mg-16-oz-454-g-bottle-14242

"Some" magnesium chloride (who is not deficient?). I use about 1/5th as much magnesium as potassium.

https://www.pipingrock.com/magnesium-chloride/magnesium-chloride-flakes-from-the-ancient-zechstein-sea-25-lbs-40-oz-bottle-40194

Note this magnesium product says it is not for internal consumption. I use it anyway because it is essentially an unrefined magnesium chloride, and I prefer the unrefined to refined when I have that option. I have been using this for 3 years and am still alive! You can get the magnesium chloride pills instead if the label makes you nervous - and just grind them up. I blend the mixture and a small food processor to ensure every salt is finely divided and uniformly mixed.

Besides rereading the blog below, here is some other content that hopefully gets you to make this salt blend and take in plenty of salt daily.

One way salt may fight cancer is by helping your body produce stomach acid. That acid is hydrochloric acid, and salt is the key source of chloride, enabling your body to make the strong acid that kills pathogens and helps you quickly break down food into nutrients. Strong stomach acid supports your microbiome by allowing it to do its job and not fight pathogens. Thus, this article may explain how chloride works to "fight" cancer.

A team at Harvard Medical School wrote this article.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35482355/

Also, the articles on this topic suggest that salt promotes higher immune cell activity - particularly with T cells, which are your natural killer and helper cells.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41590-024-01918-6

"Sodium chloride (NaCl) enhances the activation state and effector functions of human CD8+ T cells, associated with enhanced metabolic fitness. These NaCl-induced effects translate into increased tumor cell killing in vitro and in vivo."

Sodium (and potassium) drive one of the most important metabolic processes - the sodium/potassium pump described in the previous blog on salts reproduced below.

Here is a 2nd article on salt's impact on cancer.

In humans, CD8+ T cells undergoing tumor antigen recognition and predicting favorable responses to checkpoint blockade immunotherapy resembled those induced by NaCl.

I can't access the full article, so I'm drawing conclusions based on the abstract. They state that the response noted by salt (costs next to nothing) is similar to these new "checkpoint inhibitors" (exorbitantly expensive and unproven) - that are all the rage in modern oncology, but I'm sure will be proven to cause more harm than good - while salt will be proven to provide much more benefit than harm.

NOW FOR THE VIDEO, I RECOMMEND YOU WATCH AND THE MOTIVATION FOR THIS BLOG. THERE ARE SOME REAL GEMS IN THIS LECTURE!

Salt and Water Presentation - Barbara O'Neill

https://youtu.be/cBuK73K7t_0?si=qySlKQqfrEHkYH4m

PREVIOUS BLOG ON SALTS....

In this blog I provide 2 videos.

#1 - Salt & Blood Pressure: How Shady Science Sold America a Lie https://youtu.be/HMsbl22gQLg?si=_PyrHR4pH2CxfFj6

This is a very well-constructed video. Although salt is the topic, he really dives into what constitutes valid trials required to reveal the truth. I recommend everyone watch this for that information.

#2 -

https://youtu.be/BIwhVshA1Nk?si=QriJouK8bhQnPBMd

In this video, Dr. Fung presents data from well-done studies, the design of which are described in video #1.

What is missing from these two comprehensive talks?

Mechanism(s) of salt-action in health
Cofactors - it's never one thing
Solution(s)

This is what I cover now - as briefly as possible.

1. The most important function of salts (note the plural) is to facilitate energy product - AKA ATP by way ough active transport. It does this by allowing key substances to enter and exit cells.

"In active transport, unlike passive transport, the cell expends energy (for example, in the form of ATP) to move a substance against its concentration gradient."

An estimated 1/3rd of our calorie intake is channeled to drive active transport.

So... if 33% of our energy is dedicated to "pushing substances into and out of our cells" (active transport driven by salt), does salt restriction make sense?

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/ap-biology/cell-structure-and-function/facilitated-diffusion/a/active-transport

2. The "other" key salt is potassium - thus we need to take in saltS.

What drives active transport - the "sodium-potassium pump." What is YOUR potassium intake compared to that of sodium?

Sodium is the "shopper" and brings things "home" to the inside of cells.

Potassium is the garbage man (or woman - I pity the fool) that removes waste from the inside of the cell to be processed and either recycled or discarded by the kidneys.

What would happen at your home if the trash is not removed at the rate it is created? Maybe your blood pressure would go up just like in a cell.

Interestingly, the ratio of sodium-to-potassium in active transport / sodium-potassium pump is 3 to 2. That is, this pump requires..

3 sodiums (as sodium chloride)

2 potassiums (as potassium chloride)

NOTE - this is measured in atoms, not weight. Potassium is heavier than sodium, thus, to reach that ratio, you need a bit more than, say - 3 grams of sodium and 2 grams of potassium. (I will spare you the chemistry math for now)

THANKFULLY, WE DO NOT HAVE TO TAKE IN SODIUM AND POTASSIUM AT THE EXACT RATIO USED BY THE PUMP. WE JUST NEED THE SUFFICIENCY OF EACH.

HOWEVER, TOO MUCH SODIUM SALT AND NOT ENOUGH POTASSIUM SALT HAVE DIRE CONSEQUENCES ON HEALTH - AND ELEVATED BLOOD PRESSURE IS JUST A WARNING SIGN OF "TOO MUCH TRASH CONTAMINATING CELLS."

Here is a reference from Harvard on potassium.

Thousands of years ago, when humans roamed the earth gathering and hunting, potassium was abundant in the diet, while sodium was scarce.
The so-called Paleolithic diet delivered about 16 times more potassium than sodium.
Today, most Americans get barely half of the recommended amount of potassium in their diets.
The average American diet contains well more than twice as much sodium as potassium (This is standard-of-care speak - the ratio is probably more like 10:1) because of the preponderance of salt hidden in processed or prepared foods, not to mention the dearth of potassium in those foods.
This imbalance, which is at odds with how humans evolved, is thought to be a major contributor to high blood pressure, which affects one in three American adults.

The adequate intake recommendation for potassium is 4,700 mg. Bananas are often touted as a good source of potassium, but other fruits (such as apricots, prunes, and orange juice) and vegetables (such as squash and potatoes) also contain this often-neglected nutrient.

Other good sources of potassium include:

mushrooms
avocados
spinach
beans, and - drum roll please...

The effect of potassium on high blood pressure

Diets that emphasize greater potassium intake can help keep blood pressure in a healthy range, compared with potassium-poor diets

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-importance-of-potassium#:~:text=The%20adequate%20intake%20recommendation%20for%20potassium%20is%204%2C700%20mg.

Salt formula: I use this salt on everything and generously. That means all foods, coffee, smoothies, and drinking water (I tend to use a soda stream with 1 teaspoon of salt per gallon of water).

SALT FORMULA: I make a large batch and store it in a sealed container for distribution to shakers. I always take a small amount with me when I travel is some type of container - ziplock or other.