Bircher-Benner 9 Enjoy Food without Table Salt

Preface Table salt has always been one of the most popular stimulants. In the CelticGermanic region, the production of sea salt was on a large scale as early as the Bronze Age1. The Sumerians preserved their food with salt. Pliny the Elder and Lucius Columella estimated that daily salt consumption in ancient Rome corresponded to 25 g/person. Through the 19th century, table salt was used mainly as a preservative for meat, cabbage and beans2. Yet few people are aware of the damage caused by excessive amounts of table salt. In the 1970s, high salt consumption was recognised as a major cause of hypertension, and consequently a significant source of cardiovascular disease. The Food and Drug Administration has estimated consumption of table salt in the US at 8.4 g/person, which corresponds to about 2¼ teaspoons per day. US authorities have issued guidelines to reduce table salt in all convenience foods, as they account for 75% of salt consumption. They estimate that a 40% reduction could save 500,000 lives in the course of the next decade. The daily human salt demand depends on the climate and season. Today it is estimated to be in the range of 1.8-6.4 g per day. The World Health Organisation currently recommends 5 g per day, or about 1.2 level teaspoons. Many people underestimate their salt consumption, as three-quarters of it comes from convenience foods and only about one-quarter from salting. Cured convenience foods such as fish, meat and sausage products are popular. Pickling salt is table salt with the addition of 0.4-0.5% sodium nitrite. Nitrite combines the radical nitric oxide (NO) with myoglobin into heat-stable nitroso-myoglobin, which gives cured meat a more appetising, stable red colour. As a result, all products cured with nitrite are carcinogenic. There is also the sodium content from sodium fluoride. Since 2006, sodium fluoride has been added to table salt throughout the EU to prevent tooth decay. Eighty percent of the population uses sodium fluoride. The

Table of ContentsPreface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........................5Blood Pressure Regulation in the Kidney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..............8The Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System of Blood Pressure Regulation . . .....8Salt-Sensitive Hypertension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .................10Osmotic Storage of Salt in Tissues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..................10Effect of Salt Storage on Blood Vessels and Blood Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . ........10Effect of a Low-Salt Diet on Blood Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .................. 11Epigenetic Inheritance of Salt Sensitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..................11Effect of Table Salt Storage on the Blood Vessels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .............11Effects of Salinisation and Saccharisation (Glycation) of the Inner Layerof the Blood Vessels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......................12Oxidative Stress at the Centre of the Causes of Degenerative Diseasesand Dementia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......................14The Problem of Food Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .................. 17Order Therapy for Hypertension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... ................18Photon Storage in Living Tissues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..................18The Basic Regulation System of the Soft Connective Tissue . . . . . . . . ..... . . .....19The Meaning of Food Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....................20The Integral Law of Nutrition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......................22Vibrancy of Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dr. med. Andres Bircher grandson of Dr.med. Maximilian Bircher-Benner.Medical studies in Zürich and Geneva, ten years practice as a hospital physician in anaesthesiology, intensive care, emergency medicine, surgery, paediatrics, psychosomatics, haematology, geriatrics, psychiatry and psychotherapy, medical specialist(Facharzt) in an administrative position at Zürich university hospitals, teaching analysis with Brian Kenny, chief physician (Chefarzt) of a hospital for internal medicine in Zurich and later in Western Switzerland, medical specialist (Facharzt) in TCM and acupuncturist in Vienna; studies of neural therapy, manual therapy and traditional homeopathy, successful completion of medical specialist (Facharzt) training in balneology, climatology and physical medicine in Germany, scientific work on food energies, dietetics and the effects of regulatory medicine.Dr. med. Andres Bircher is the medical manager of the Centre for Scientific Natural Medicine Bircher-Benner.