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DR. HOFFMAN refers to the epoch-making research of Waterman which throws much light on "The electrical behavior of cells exposed to salt changes in their environment. In the polarization of the cells under such conditions Waterman has found a criterion for the discovery of the earliest changes and the very onset of abnormal processes in the tissue, at a time when in all other respects the organs appear still perfectly normal."
According to Meyer, "when unbalanced, the salts become a source of trouble for cell metabolism." And that, therefore, "it thus becomes obvious that the kind of food consumed and the regular functioning and correlation of all these organs determine in part the quantity and the ratio to one another of the salts present in the serum."157
Mineral imbalance then becomes a question of profound importance in all discussions of the causative nature of cancerous processes. I quote further from Meyer in connection with this question as follows:
"Giving food credit for that much of a contributory influence toward the development of cancer, always remembering the small percentage of actual cancer cases among those predisposed, is, of course, vastly different from saying that already existing cancer could be benefited by special diet, a suggestion upon which we look, in common with the great majority of the medical profession, as having no standing in medical experience and no justification of being made the basis for cancer medication."
"With this conclusion, however, I (Frederick Hoffman) am by no means in agreement. On the contrary I am of the opinion that the diet of cancer patients has a profound effect on cancerous processes which can be increased or decreased according to the food intake and its regulated chemical composition."158
Therapeutically we find the following: the saltless diet and detoxication reduce Na, Cl, H2O in the whole System. This is the removal of cell edema simultaneously with the reduction of the negative electrical potentials. Thus the way is paved for the activated negatively charged K group minerals and positively charged iodine components. These changes seem to force the cancer cells to a higher metabolic rate. In my opinion, the mineral metabolism united, of course, with a number of other revived processes bring about the decisive role for the death of the cancer cells. Cancer cells can ferment only; therefore they are unable to adapt to the new intensive changes - they break down and die. This part of the metabolism must be properly composed and constantly reactivated by the function of the liver. Thus, we may assume that almost all vital functions, functions of the restored mineral metabolism, the detoxication, etc., necessary for healing power, are anchored in the liver.
Some authors regarded salt as stimulating neoplastic growth and recommended its restriction in the cancer diet.159 A contrary opinion was expressed by F. Blumenthal and E. Hesse in 1935, who saw that regimes extremely poor in salt have a rather unfavorable influence on human neoplasias.
Other authors found that a protein-poor and K-rich regime produced favorable conditions for tumor development, by inducing an alkalosis. They emphasized: "No cancer without alkalosis." The well-known food chemist, Ragnar Berg,160 objected strongly to that viewpoint: a diet producing alkalosis may be responsible for the development of cancer. All of these opinions still remain in the category of theories.
The available facts on the role of sodium and potassium in cancer are not clear. The findings of the authors and their conclusions are, on the whole, very disappointing. My opinion is that cancer is not a specific disease, has no uniform symptoms and is not equally developed to a certain degree. Cancer is an extraordinary symptom only. The underlying cause is to be found in the poisoning of the liver. That is most probably the reason why the biological findings are inconclusive and so contradicting. Cancer is a disease of the liver lately called a "balance wheel of life" - where most metabolic functions are more or less concentrated. From here the other organs can be pathologically influenced and damaged or poisoned. Among the great number of observations, there are some which seem to be correct but they are not confirmed by laboratory experiments. Waterman found: "the sodium content of blood serum is unchanged in cancer patients." Benedict and Theis concluded that the "blood serum in cancer patients contains the normal amount of sodium". Pitts and Johnson examined the sodium content of blood serum and of blister fluid in cancerous and noncancerous patients and discovered that "the sodium content of these fluids was the same in cancer patients and in normal patients." Dr. Fry described in the British Cancer Review of 1926 the fact that in the blood of tumor-bearing rats the amount of sodium is 25 per cent above normal when the tumor is growing actively, and 60 per cent above normal when the tumor is receding. Marwood went so far as to say salt is the root cause of cancer.
The main task of the saltless diet is to eliminate the retained Na, Cl, H2O, together with toxins and poisons from the tissues all over the body.
All poisons and other substances difficult to eliminate are stimulants for the sick tissues, especially liver and kidneys. That condition seems to be the reason why sodium chloride excretion increases in tuberculosis, cancer and other chronic diseases after two to three days on a saltless diet, and this condition stays at that higher level for about eight to ten or fourteen days, corresponding to a favorable development in the course of the disease. After that is accomplished, it stays near the normal level with the saltless diet, but shows a higher Na-Cl excretion, together with more fluid from time to time for two to three days, and later for one day. Such so-called "flare-ups" go along sometimes with nausea, diairhea and nervous disturbances, caused probably by greater bile secretion and stimulation of the visceral nervous system. After each "flare-up" the patient feels easier and mentally improved.
(a) Edema and abnormal deposition of sodium and chloride in the subcutaneous tissue (nephropathias).
(b) Cardio-renal insufficiency
(c) K-loss and Na-retention, in chronic diseases, especially in tuberculosis, cancer, etc.
(d) Detoxication, the degree of which must be in proportion to the degree of the disease - and which must be maintained during the period of restoration.