Anyone who has ever kept tropical fish knows the health benefits of treating them with hypertonic saline. If I ever saw one or more signs of stress or disease, such as clamped fins, body sores or gasping at the surface I immediately added 1 tablespoon of sea salt for every 5 gallons of aquarium water. The theory was that the osmotic shock was not enough to harm the fish, but sufficient to control pathogenic microorganisms. However, I always felt there was something more to it.
Very recently, a number of articles on the use of hypertonic saline have highlighted how it has been successfully used to treat severe trauma patients as well as people with critical brain injuries such as soldiers in Iraq or people in car accidents. (Every 15 seconds someone suffers from a traumatic brain injury within the US alone, leading doctors to refer to this as the silent epidemic.)
Hypertonic saline is any solution of sodium chloride (NaCl) in water with a concentration higher than physiologic (0.9% w/v). When administered in vivo, hypertonic saline (HTS) exhibits several physiological effects beneficial to cerebral or other tissue injury including: 1) osmotic and vasoregulatory - by promoting the flow of excess water from the tissues to the blood via osmosis and decreasing edema in the vascular endothelium of injured tissues, thus lowering vascular resistance and allowing more blood flow; 2) hemodymanic - by effectively expanding plasma volume; 3) immunomodulatory - by preventing leukocytes from becoming activated and adhering to injured neurons and; 4) neurochemical - by counteracting detrimental excitatory amino acids through the normalization of neuronal cell membranes and by restoration of normal electrolyte and neurotransmitter levels in brain cells, and normal cell volumes.
In addition to its value in trauma treatment, hypertonic saline has also been successfully used to improve lung function in cystic fibrosis in both adults and children as well as leading to quality of life improvements through reduction of chronic sinus complaints.
Chalk up a few more applications to the 14,000+ uses of hyperfunctional salt!
