You're not healing people Jillian

 

Remember what I said in regards to Jillian rejecting all information contrary to her truth? This is a perfect example:

First, salt is salt, it's all NaCl.  I don't care about the trace minerals, they're too small of an amount to make a difference. Second, most doctors (MDs) have science to back their claims. Not just hunches and personal anecdotes.  Where are your studies showing how specific foods or diets might affect the immune response?

There are over 250K entries on PubMed concerning “salt”.  Google Scholar has over 1.5 million concerning “salt intake”.  Consumption of salt and what its role in the biochemistry of the human body is well studied.  Not some woo-garbage about salt “energizing” the system; that water and air are ”balancing forces”.

In layman's terms, a Reader's Digest version, the immune system is a network of special cells, tissues, proteins, and organs that work together to protect the body from potentially damaging foreign invaders and disease. When our immune system functions properly it detects threats and it triggers an immune response to destroy them. Innate immunity is the natural protection that we are born with and our first line of defense to combat infection.  Adaptive immunity is protection that we gain throughout life as we are exposed to diseases or protected against them from vaccinations.

Epperly talks of the need to ”boost your immune system” or ”boosting your immune system”

 throughout her book as well as on FB.  The issue with that notion, it's not what one wants to do.  

What does that mean: boost the immune system? Most people apparently think that the immune system is like a muscle, and by working it, giving it supplements and vitamins, the immune system will become stronger. Bigger. More impressive, bulging like Mr. Universe’s bicep. That’s the body part I am thinking about. What they are boosting is vague, on par with chi/qi or innate intelligence. They never really say what is being boosted.

The other popular phrase is “support”. A product supports prostate health, or breast health or supports the immune system. It sounds like the immune system is sagging against gravity due to age and needs a lift.

The immune system, if you are otherwise healthy, cannot be boosted, and doing those things you learned in kindergarten health (reasonable diet, exercise and sleep), will provide the immune system all the boosting or support it needs.
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Those who say that that their product, for example probiotics, boost the immune system, point to studies such as these that show that in response to bacteria, cells of the immune system are activated, they are exhibiting the expected inflammatory response to a foreign invader. They call it boosting. I call it the inflammatory response. What could be better than priming your immune system so that it is better able to respond to a pathogen? This preamble leads us to the meat of this post: Is it good to have the immune system activated? Is it good to have your immune system primed? Or boosted? Maybe not. It does explain why taking a probiotic helps increase the antibody response to influenza vaccine in the elderly and decreases the duration of respiratory infections. A short term inflammatory response may be of benefit, but it may not be an effect you want to have persist. 

Skeptical Raptor reiterates what Crislip was saying,

On the other hand, if you really could boost your immune system, is that even a good idea? How can you even fine-tune a “boost” without figuring out the exact amount necessary to get the effect you want?

In fact, there are reasons why we shouldn’t have a too powerful immune system. For example, overactive immune systems are responsible for allergic conditions such as asthma and eczema. And there’s a type of runaway immune response known as a “cytokine storm” which may be responsible for the high mortality in severe flu pandemics.

Inflammation is normally a healthy response to injury or pathogen invasion, but in some autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, it can be painful and debilitating.

 

In addition, an overactive immune system can become misdirected and start attacking the cells of the host body. This immune system error can cause autoimmune diseases such as arthritis and Type 1 diabetes.

So, no, it really is not a good idea to boost your immune system, even if you could (and you really can’t). 

So why do I mention this? Because the above is what Epperly ignores.

That brings us to a paper that was brought to my attention that illustrates that the high mega-dose swill may cause more harm then good:  Over-salting ruins the balance of the immune menu.

From the conclusion, which I admit I dont understand all the fancy language, but I do understand what I highlighted in bold.

In conjunction with previous studies, the current reports demonstrate the powerful effects a high-sodium diet has on promoting the inflammatory potential of innate and adaptive immune responses. Not only does high sodium increase the inflammatory function of macrophages and T cells that are activated in response to infection and/or tissue trauma, but high salt also neutralizes the inherent regulatory mechanisms that have evolved to limit the levels of immune-mediated inflammation and promote resolution of tissue injury. Importantly, the studies by Binger et al. and Hernandez et al. suggest that reversing the salt-induced abrogation of these regulatory mechanisms does not readily occur once salt is removed. This observation indicates a need to identify strategies that either reverse the impact of high sodium on dysregulated regulatory macrophages and Tregs or rapidly promote the generation of new regulatory cells once more physiological levels of sodium are attained. The results of these studies predict that high-salt diets should accelerate development of autoimmune responses with enhanced intensity in animal models of spontaneous autoimmune inflammation, such as the NOD model of type 1 diabetes. As mice and humans with absent or defective Tregs develop autoimmune manifestations, particularly in the endocrine glands and in the gastrointestinal tract, WT animals placed on continual high-salt diets should recapitulate these autoimmune pathologies. Together, the studies by Binger et al. and Hernandz et al. imply that individuals exposed to high sodium levels may be highly prone to chronic problems with wound healing and autoimmune diseases.

How it was explained,

Hyper stimulation of T cells with decreased T regs basically cause the immune system to go into overdrive!

T regs are what stop T cells from both activating B cells (that make antibodies) as well as auto reactive NK cells (t cells that target our own cells... like in a virus infection for example).

Not only that, when cells are put under stress, be it from salt, dehydration or damage etc, they will release chemicals that both attract and activate the immune system.... but that’s not always a good thing! Like inflammation as a result of autoimmune responses etc!

The harm of course is loss of function in the tissue, but also replacement of the normal tissue with fibrotic tissue and long term that will and does lead to a failure of that tissue (ie, organ).

Furthermore, stressing the immune system is stressing the same systems that repair the body as well as reduce the ability for it to actually do its job, such as fighting off infection etc!

A fact proven by intense research links accessible salt intake to higher risks of autoimmune diseases.

This next article bears a bit more urgency, Dietary Sodiumand Health: More Than Just Blood Pressure, considering the following screen-grabs. A conversation Jillian had with a lady of possible senior status (10/16/2018):

 

 

Now compare the signs of salt poisoning “a strong feeling of thirst, followed by weakness, nausea, and loss of appetite. More severe symptoms ensue, including confusion, muscle twitching, and bleeding in or around the brain. Death results by the swelling of the brain against the skull.”

Instead of encouraging the woman to seek medical help, Epperly cheers her on. Pain is not healing, it is a sign that something is wrong. Your insidious slop could force this poor woman into renal failure or even death

From the abstract,

Sodium is essential for cellular homeostasis and physiological function. Excess dietary sodium has been linked to elevations in blood pressure (BP). Salt-sensitivity of BP varies widely, but certain subgroups tend to be more salt-sensitive. The mechanisms underlying sodium-induced increases in BP are not completely understood, but may involve alterations in renal function, fluid volume, fluid regulatory hormones, the vasculature, cardiac function, and the autonomic nervous system. Recent pre-clinical and clinical data support that even in the absence of an increase in BP, excess dietary sodium can adversely affect target organs, including the blood vessels, heart, kidneys, and brain. In this review, we address these issues and the epidemiological literature relating dietary sodium to BP and cardiovascular health outcomes, addressing recent controversies. We also provide information and strategies for reducing dietary sodium.

IOWs this review paper provides evidence that even in the absence of an increase in blood pressure, excess dietary sodium can adversely affect target organs, including the blood vessels, heart, kidneys and brain.

But Jillian ignores the numerous papers and studies concerning such. Your not healing Jillian, you are harming or even killing people with your rotten cabbage slop.

Thanks to MA and AC for the heads up on the first journal article :)