The following is a chapter from the book Diet Prevents
Polio written by Benjamin P. Sandler, M.D., and published in 1951,
at the height of the polio epidemic.
Low Blood
Sugar And Susceptibility To Polio
During my research I observed a large number of patients
who had symptoms that were caused by low blood sugar.
They complained of the symptoms previously described, namely:
- headache
- dizziness
- weakness
- fatigue
- abdominal pain
- nervousness
- palpitation
- frequent sweats
- occasional fainting spells.
Most of these patients were malnourished, which, physiologically,
meant subnormal liver glycogen storage. Their diet was
deficient in protein and consisted
largely of the cheaper starchy foods.
I noted that these patients also had poor resistance
to infections such as colds, sore throat, grippe, influenza,
bronchitis, and pneumonia. By increasing
the protein content of their diet and by reducing
the sugar and starch content, they improved considerably.
They became stronger, more vigorous and buoyant, and had fewer
infections.
A few of these patients had had polio in childhood. Observations
of these patients over a long period of time led me to suspect
that their susceptibility to infection
was possibly due to their poor diet with its high sugar and
starch content.
Their increased resistance to infection with a better diet
confirmed this suspicion. It then occurred to me that their
susceptibility to polio could be explained on a similar dietary
basis.
Specifically, I suspected that children and adults contracted
polio because of low blood sugar brought
on by a diet containing sugar
and starch.
I reasoned that the polio virus was able to cross tissue
barriers, reach the brain and spinal cord, invade the nerve
cells, damage or destroy them and cause paralysis. And I further
reasoned that if the blood sugar never fell below 80 mg polio
could never result.
I suspected that during a polio epidemic only those children
and adults who experienced periods of low blood sugar would
contract the disease and that those individuals who were
in actual contact with the virus but who maintained normal
blood sugar levels would not contract the disease.
Thus, it remained to prove that low blood sugar could be
a factor in susceptibility to polio. And, after this had been
proved, the following questions had to be answered:
The prevention of low blood sugar would thus mean the prevention
of polio.
Before describing the experiments performed, I should like
to make a preliminary summary and state without reserve that:
-
Low blood sugar is a
factor of susceptibility to polio.
-
Low blood sugar occurs
frequently in children and adults and is caused chiefly
by a dietary error, namely, the consumption of sugar
and starch
- Correction of this dietary error will prevent low
blood sugar and thus prevent polio.
An experimental method to prove that low blood sugar was
a factor of susceptibility to polio was readily available.
In 1938, the only laboratory animal that could contract
polio by experimental inoculation was the monkey.
All other laboratory animals were completely resistant to
the polio virus. The rabbit is one of these resistant
animals.
Without knowing the blood sugar range in the monkey and
rabbit, it was suspected that the blood sugar in the monkey
reached lower levels than in the rabbit.
These suspicions were found to have a basis in fact through
the investigations of Drs. Jungeblut and Resnick of Columbia
University who studied blood sugar levels in monkeys, and
through the investigations of Drs. du Vigneaud and Karr of
Cornell University who studied blood sugar levels in rabbits.
In monkeys, blood sugar values as low as 50 mg. were observed,
whereas in the rabbit, values below 100 mg. were never observed.
In numerous determinations made on rabbits I have never obtained
values below 100 mg.
It was therefore concluded that the susceptibility of the
monkey to the polio virus was due to the fact that its blood
sugar fell to subnormal values, and that the resistance of
the rabbit might be associated with the fact that its blood
sugar never fell below 100 mg, and that at this concentration
cellular oxidation of glucose
in the nervous system and other organs would be maintained
at such a level as to enable the cells to protect themselves
against invasion by the virus.
Physiologists have stated that the normal blood sugar level
of 80 mg. holds true for all mammals.
The next step was to lower the
blood sugar of the rabbit to subnormal values with
insulin injections, and then inoculate the rabbit with polio
virus. This was done and it was found that the rabbits
became infected and developed the disease.
The details of these experiments were published in the American
Journal of Pathology, January, 1941.
Some rabbits showed signs of infection 8 to 10 hours after
inoculation. I wish to stress this short period of incubation
in the rabbit because it demonstrates that polio can develop
in a short period of time. This is important, as we shall
learn later, when we discuss the
onset of polio in humans within 24 hours after severe physical
exertion.
The rabbit is also resistant to the dog distemper virus.
One of the largest research laboratories has conducted much
research with this virus and when I informed the members of
the staff about my success in inoculating rabbits with polio
virus after lowering the blood sugar, they inoculated rabbits
with the dog distemper virus after insulin and reported to
me that they observed signs of infection in the rabbit for
the first time.
This corroborating experiment indicates
that low blood sugar may cause
susceptibility to many infections.
I was thus satisfied that low blood sugar was a factor of
susceptibility to the polio virus in monkeys, and that rabbits
could be rendered susceptible after their blood sugar was
lowered with insulin
(Insulin, as you probably know, is the hormone which diabetics
inject into themselves in order to keep their blood sugar
within normal range. It is a quick-acting drug and can lower
the blood sugar within an hour or so after injection).
I concluded that the concept that low blood sugar created
susceptibility to polio in both monkeys and rabbits could
be applied to humans as well.
What Causes Low Blood Sugar in
Humans?
The next step in the solution of the polio problem was to
find out the causes of low blood sugar in humans. Fortunately
the answer to this problem was already at hand.
It has been found that the consumption of sugar and starch
and foods containing these substances were the chief
causes of low blood sugar.
When patients drank a solution of pure glucose they had a
period of low blood sugar which began one to two hours after
the glucose was taken and which lasted for one to two hours,
and longer.
This study of the blood sugar is called the "glucose
tolerance test" and is employed for the detection of
hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia. When they ate a meal containing
sugar and starch they also had periods of low blood sugar
which came on an hour or so later and which lasted for from
one to two hours.
The low blood sugar was more marked and lasted for a longer
time after the glucose solution than after a meal containing
starch.
It is an established fact that this paradoxic depressant
effect on the blood sugar level is more readily exerted by
sugar than it is by starches. I have observed these results
in hundreds of cases and similar results have been obtained
by other investigators.
It is a surprising paradox: the
more sugar (and starch) you eat, the more likely you will
develop low blood sugar.
Drs. E. P. McCullagh and C. R. K. Johnston have shown how
the glucose tolerance test is readily influenced by diet.
Thus the second problem: What can cause low blood sugar in
the human? was solved.
How Can Low Blood Sugar be Prevented?
The third problem, "How can low blood sugar be prevented?"
was the only one left and this, too, was readily solved.
It had been found by other investigators that a meal consisting
of protein, fat,
and carbohydrates, but with
no sugar or starch, NEVER caused
low blood sugar.
The addition of sugar and starch to such a meal could readily
produce low blood sugar.
Thus I arrived at a simple formula
for preventing polio: eliminate from the diet sugar
and foods containing sugar, and reduce the consumption of
foods containing starch.
Since eating sugar and starch during a meal may cause low
blood sugar after one to three hours, and since elimination
of sugar and starch prevents low blood sugar, the invasion
of the body by the polio virus will be prevented by a diet
containing no sugar and no starch. Protection against polio
would thus begin on the very day such a diet was started and
protection would last just as long as such a diet was adhered
to.
I have found that a diet completely free
of sugar and starch and consisting of proteins,
fats, and non-starchy vegetables:
May be adhered to for years with
beneficial effect and absolutely NO
harmful effect.
There is NO
supporting evidence to indicate that sugar and starch are
necessary for health or for energy purposes.
The human is a carnivore and can thrive on protein and fat
alone, if necessary.
The Eskimos thrive well
on meat and fish which yield only protein and fat, and polio
is unheard of among them.
American and European explorers in the Arctic regions have
lived on meat and fish for as long as 18 months and have maintained
perfect health all the time on such a diet. Vilhjalmur Stefansson,
the Arctic explorer, has described his existence on such a
diet in great detail. He states that he was in perfect health
on such a diet which consisted of protein and fat alone.
Eskimos who live on meat and fish are not susceptible to
infectious diseases. They do become susceptible when they
live amongst white men and eat the white man’s diet with
its sugar and starch. It is true that the Eskimo’s fresh
contact with the white man exposes him to infectious diseases
to which he (the Eskimo) has not had the opportunity to become
immune.
The presence of sugar and starch in the Eskimo's new diet
is of greater significance. A US public health officer stationed
in Alaska has blamed this dietary factor for the great susceptibility
of the Eskimo to tuberculosis.
A low carbohydrate meal elevates
and stabilizes the blood sugar levels.
This stabilizing effect is important because some of the
symptoms of low blood sugar are due to rapid fall in blood
sugar level which accompany wide fluctuations in blood sugar
levels following the ingestion of sugar and starch.
Diet
Prevents Polio, by Benjamin P. Sandler,
M.D., and published in 1951 by
The Lee Foundation for Nutritional Research, Milwaukee, WI
Dr. Mercola's Comment:
Wow. This 50 year old article is a real gem, an absolute
classic. It was written a few
years before I was born, and it holds one of the major
keys to good health.
Dr. Sandler was generations ahead of his time. He used
basic common sense to provide irrefutable evidence of the
importance of severe restrictions of grains and sugars to
avoid polio.
Polio, however, is just one example of a viral infection,
and I assure you that the dietary principles elaborated by
Dr. Sandler also hold true for the other infections that we
acquire.
So, by cutting back (hopefully eliminating) the breads,
pastas, sweets and sugars this holiday season and in the future
we WILL absolutely and unequivocally
reduce our risk of coming down with the old winter flus, coughs
and colds.
Will following the diet
provide absolute protection? Certainly not. Other factors,
such as sleep, stress, exposure to toxins, and exercise also
play a role. But for the most part, you will practically eliminate
your risk of ever getting sick again by following the diet.
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