CHAPTER 1

HOW ACIDIC WASTES CAUSE DISEASE

Detoxification is even more important to longevity than good nutrition. Frenchphysiologist Alexia Carrell kept pieces of chicken heart tissue alive in asolution containing the same mineral levels found in chicken blood plasma fortwenty-eight years. The cells in the tissue stopped dividing and died out onlywhen he stopped changing the solution, although he continued to place mineralsin the solution in the same amount. The chicken heart cells, despite beingprovided with the necessary nutrients, could not carry on their metabolicactivities because the fluid in which they were placed had become filled withacid wastes.

The environment of the human body cannot be so easily purified as the test-tubeenvironment of Carrell's chicken heart tissue. The body's detoxifyingorgans—liver, lymph, immune system, kidneys, and lungs—were notdesigned to neutralize synthetic chemicals and heavy metal contaminants thathave found their way into the body in recent years.

The hydrogenation of edible oils leaves behind traces of aluminum and nickel,and food additives contain remnants of such toxic heavy metals as cadmium, lead,mercury, and chromium. Mercury from dental amalgams and in canned tuna fish, theformaldehyde and mercury in vaccines, and the lead from car exhaust are just afew of the multitudes of toxins that have found their way into the body.

The chemist Ray Peat, Ph.D., writes, "Heavy metals accumulate in the body at afaster rate as the body ages, and have an affinity for the bones. Lead, inparticular, replaces bone calcium. And heavy metals can trigger the onset ofbone cancer by replacing the blood-making machinery in the bones. Some materialssuch as chelators and EDTA (a mild acid used in chelation) move metals from thebones to the brain where they are more destructive."

Fortunately there are ways we can help the body reduce its store of heavy metalsand synthetic chemicals. A juice made with vegetables high in alkaline mineralssuch as celery and parsley can neutralize heavy metals in the lungs. Lemon juicein water before breakfast is an effective detoxifier of heavy metals in general.With its heavy concentration of negatively charged ions, the lemon in the waterbonds with positively charged metal molecules and neutralizes them. Onceneutralized, the body has no problem eliminating them.

Mineral supplements are also helpful in reducing heavy metals. Calcium, iron,and copper lower lead levels; vitamin C, zinc, and selenium remove mercury fromthe body; and zinc, copper, and iron reduce cadmium levels.

The body has another means of eliminating some of the potent acids that leachout of pesticides, heavy metals, and food debris and settle in the blood. Butthis system does not eliminate them. It just gets them out of harm's way. Whenthe body's slightly alkaline blood pH is threatened by the acidity of theseforeign intruders, the body binds them with calcium, an alkaline mineral, anddeposits them as far away as possible from the circulating blood.

As we age, the wastes in our bodies accumulate in such great quantities that thebody is unable to dispose of them, so they calcify. By the time most peoplereach the age of fifty, they have acquired a few enlarged knuckles, calciumspurs in the heel, and calcified deposits on the vertebrae and in muscle tissue.These calcium deposits can be painful but are not life-threatening.

Acidity and Cardiovascular Disease

Acidic wastes are not always rendered less harmful by being safely entombed incalcium deposits. When the body's acidic load becomes too large, some acidparticles remain in the blood. They trigger the onset of cardiovascular diseaseby making scratches and bumps on the inside walls of arteries. These injuriesare "bandaged" over with cholesterol, triglycerides, calcium, and other wastes.Of course, the higher the cholesterol and triglyceride levels, the thicker the"bandage" and the narrower the arteries.

A high cholesterol level is not the underlying cause of hardening of thearteries. Cholesterol and other thick, sticky substances cannot adhere to vesselwalls that are smooth. Only after the arterial vessel walls become pitted andscratched by acid particles are fatty plaques able to stick to them.

Narrowed arteries are dangerous for two reasons. Fatty plaques are more likelyto become detached from vessel walls and trigger the formation of blood clots,which travel through the bloodstream to the brain and cause strokes. They alsoraise blood pressure, increasing the likelihood of heart attacks and strokes.

That the injury of arterial walls by acid particles is the major cause of highblood pressure is strongly indicated by the clinical studies of Dr. KanchoKuninaha, who successfully lowered the blood pressure of many of his patientswith alkaline water. Normalized blood pressure readings indicated that thearteries had opened up, and the alkaline particles in the water had removed thefatty plaques and acidic wastes from the arterial walls.

Acidity, Autoimmune Disorders, and Food Allergies

The groundwork is laid for autoimmune disease when the immune cells decide aparticular food is an unfriendly microbe. To "protect" the body from this"enemy," the immune cells not only trigger the production of histamines but alsomaneuver an enzyme into making a leak in the intestines. Those food moleculesthe immune cells have designated as hostile, not knowing what the immune systemis up to, slip through these leaks. Once in the general circulation they becomesitting ducks for the immune cells. The latter, however, in the process ofdisposing of the food allergens, become inflamed and mutate. In their new guisethe immune cells attack the body's own protoplasm. Proof that it is not uncommonfor the immune system to be transformed from a "Dr. Jekyll" to a "Mr. Hyde" isthe fact that there are now sixty-three clinically...