Health Gazelle: Sea Salt

Sea Salt

Someone on a list I am on commented that regular use of hypertonic saline for the lungs had helped reduce the need for enzymes, as well as having other effects beyond just lung function. Below is an edited version of my response, mostly about salt in CF patients. Since people write me and ask me which brand I use (and not all "sea salt" is the same), I want to mention here that we use Celtic Sea Salt.

I am not familiar with hypertonic saline as a prescription, but I am assuming this is basically salt, water, and baking soda like the recipe for hypertonic saline sinus wash given to me by two different doctors. If so, then it also seems to me that using hypertonic saline twice a day is a means to increase the salt content of the body and decrease the acidity of the body. Since we know that CF patients tend to purge salt at high rates and also purge bicarbonate at high rates, I think that using hypertonic saline regularly is partly a means to "supplement" these two things which our bodies tend to be deficient in.

My son stopped taking enzymes altogether a few weeks ago (he only took 1 or 2 enzyme pills at a time). He has been consuming sea salt orally for several months and we have been working on the ph balance for longer than that (bicarbonate is alkaline and CF patients tend to be too acid -- I think the way we purge bicarb is at least partly responsible for the excess acidity, so I think bicarb and ph balance are directly linked). I have also been consuming sea salt since last summer and I also require fewer enzyme pills. Actually, I mostly do not use them to aid digestion anymore. I mostly am taking them on an empty stomach as an anti-viral protocol to use up the supply of enzymes we have.

I think that supplementing with sea salt helps the digestive issues at least in part because the digestive system is lined with mucous and salt is a major component of mucous. So if you purge salt at high rates and don't get enough to make up for this deficiency, then you can't create sufficient mucous, which seems to not only impair the sinuses and lungs but also the digestive tract.

So, for anyone who has difficulty with using hypertonic saline for the sinuses or lungs, my personal experience is that you can get some of the above effects by supplementing with real sea salt daily and dealing effectively with the ph balance issues created by the purging of bicarb. My son has never used a nebulizer and has used a sinus wash only a few times. He also hated his PEP and was bad about not using it. So he is pretty resistent to such methods but is very enthusiastic about taking sea salt orally (eats it "like candy") and addressing the ph balance problem.

In other private e-mails, I also said:

I cook with sea salt and it is getting to the point where my son rejects foods cooked by my mother using "normal" table salt instead of sea salt. But in addition to that, I simply consume it like a supplement (as do both my sons), washing it down with plenty of water. I estimate that I take at least 1/2 tablespoon per day and when I asked my son how much he takes on a "high consumption" day (such as when it is hot and he sweats a lot), he indicated that he consumes as much as 5 tablespoons (this is an estimate as we do not measure, we just take as much as we crave). I probably take around a couple of tablespoons of salt on most days.

Additionally, I want to say that since your child is an infant, you could try to give sea salt transdermally by adding it to her bath water. The skin should absorb. It wouldn't reduce her need for enzymes immediately, but I think it probably would reduce her need for enzymes over time. Getting sufficient quantities of sea salt seems to resolve some of my issues and my son's issues at the root cause. I think a lot of treatments for CF are treating secondary and tertiary problems caused by the differences in cell function rather than addressing the primary issues caused by the differences in cell function. (Gosh, I hope that's clear.)

UPDATE: In another discussion elsewhere, someone's child was too aklaline and was getting lung bleeds from hypertonic saline. It's possible those two facts are related: if the alkalinity of hypertonic saline is beneficial in most cases because of the excess acidity that CF patients are prone to, then it seems to me that a CF patient who is too alkaline for some reason may not find hypertonic saline beneficial. Presumably, the salt issue would be a separate issue and such an individual might still find sea salt beneficial if supplemented orally.

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