Salt, as innocuous and as commonly used as white sugar, will inhibit the growth of yogurt cultures according to the results of an experiment I completed within the past few days.

A resident of my home town went on a very low-sodium diet during July to help him lose weight. He also reported that not only did he lose weight, but that the stools floated better and were more normal in appearance as a result of the low-sodium diet. Successfully implanting friendly flora has been a major challenge for millions of people throughout the world. Several years ago, I added some of the common antimicrobials like sodium benzoate (common food preservatives found in many processed foods like canned soda) to a sample jar in a yogurt maker and found that all of the food preservatives I tested stopped the yogurt cultures from converting the milk into yogurt.

I reasoned that food preservatives in general would impair the growth of acidophilus, bifidus and other strains of friendly flora. Isn’t that what food preservatives are supposed to do - stop the growth of bacteria. Unfortunately, food preservatives don not distinguish the difference between friendly and unfriendly bacteria and suppress all of them.

Earlier in the last century before refrigeration, our ancestors used to store raw meat in a salt brine to preserve it. In the Middle East, there is a sea called the “DEAD SEA” because nothing can live in it due to its extremely high content of salt. Consumption of salt has been linked in medical literature to a wide range of diseases from obesity to diabetes to kidney failure to hypertension and heart disease. Could salt that is added to nearly all processed foods be contributing to the difficulty of implanting friendly flora, to poor gastrointestinal health, a failure of mucosal immunity and thus impair cell-mediated immunity?

Within the past week, I have completed an experiment that will forever change the way I view this common seasoning agent that I have admittedly used for years.

To 3 cups of milk, I added one-half teaspoon of Jarrowdophilus 6 strain flora mix and one tablespoon of lemon juice. I added the lemon juice to acidify the milk to stimulate the growth of the friendly flora. I poured the mix into 3 cups and placed them in a yogurt maker and labeled the 3 jars. Jar number 1 was the control, to jar number two I added 1/8th teaspoon of salt and to jar number three I added 1/4 teaspoon of salt. I mixed the salt into the milk and turned on the yogurt maker.

Ten hours later I unplugged the yogurt maker and examined the 3 jars. Jar number one, the control, had turned into a firm yogurt. Jar number 2 with 1/8th tsp. of salt has a slightly less firm yogurt but jar number 3 with 1/4 tsp. of salt added was still a liquid. The results speak for themselves. Salt at the levels currently being used in many processed foods is sufficiently high enough to suppress the growth of the yogurt cultures, in this case, all the strains that were contained in the Jarrowdophilus probiotic blend. Looking at the sodium content of canned soups at a local grocery store, a typical serving had about 1/4 teaspoon of salt or about 600 mg sodium. That is the equivalent of jar number 3 in the yogurt experiment. That means that most processed foods, even without adding food preservatives, may have enough salt (sodium chloride) in them to completely suppress the growth of acidophilus in the small intestines and at least partially suppress the growth of the bifidobacteria in the large intestines as the salt content of the chyme will diminish as the food passes through to the lower intestines.

What is evident is that ham, lunch meat, most canned soups, pizza and many other processed foods have enough salt added to completely suppress the growth of most of the important friendly flora that we rely upon for intestinal health and mucosal immunity. Low-sodium alternatives are salt-free herbal combinations for seasoning food, cayenne, lemon juice, red wine vinegar and for raw or cooked vegetables, try Romano cheese - one or two teaspoons with each meal. There are 40 mg of sodium per teaspoon of Romano cheese. That is far better than just 1/8th tsp. of salt that has close to 300 mg of sodium. Since most Americans are consuming over 1 teaspoon of salt per day in the processed foods they eat, in fact, most people consume twice the RDA levels recommended by the FDA or about 5000 mg daily (Note: use crystal salt from Himalaya or at least sea salt, which is less salty than sodium-chloride but a gift of nature!). A good goal is to limit yourself to 150 mg or less of sodium added to food with each meal or to a total of 500 mg or less of salt daily. Salted butter contains as much as 85 mg of salt per tablespoon. Salt-free butter has 0 amount of salt in it. Fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables have no salt added. Raw nuts like almonds and walnuts are salt-free although they contain some low amounts of natural sodium. Cheese has lots of salt added while ice-cream and milk usually have none added.

One thing is now very apparent since we know that the health of the gastrointestinal tract is the foundation for mucosal immunity and cell-mediated immunity, you cannot have a normal functioning immune system if you continue to consume the quantity of salt currently being consumed by the average American on the average diet. Since salt impairs the immune system, salt is a factor in the loss of natural immunity against cancer.

A diet high in salt will also weaken your natural immunity against HIV, HHV-6 and all other stubborn intracellular infections. In plain English, I can only conclude that salt, the innocuous seasoning that enhances the flavor of the food we eat is a poison and a toxin that damages us in more ways than we have realized.

PS: Two readers reports that a sun-dried gray salt made by Eden Foods and also another company called Celtic Salt has all the naturally occurring minerals of sea water and is naturally sun dried on clay beds on the western shores of France. They report health benefits from using this salt. If you are going to use salt at all, I think this would be the type to consider. It is sold in health food stores.

NOTE: even better is Himalaya crystal salt from Pakistan/India, available throughout India.

Available at Honesty department stores, Mission street, Pondy. It comes in full pieces for 24 Rs. per kg.

Available in Auroville at Pour Tous and HERS Shop as grinded powder.

Price in Europe: 10 to 20 Euro per kg!