How to Naturally Lower Your Risk of Contracting Polio
boy eating sugar cane
by Dr. Mercola 05-08-12
Did you know you can reduce your risk of contracting polio simply by cutting back on sugar? The evidence suggesting that a diet high in refined sugar (as well as other forms of fructose) increases your risk of contracting polio is discussed in the book Diet Prevents Polio, written by Benjamin P. Sandler, M.D. The book was published in 1951, at the height of the polio epidemic. In it, he writes:
“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.
… 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.
Dr. Wilson replies:
I find it interesting that unstable glucose levels could have an influence on the risk of contracting polio. Of course we now know that excessive fructose from sugar and HFCS drives insulin resistance and when carbohydrates are consumed when you have insulin resistance, blood glucose levels rapidly rise and then crash below normal.
child with polio
Humans evolved with a complex system to maintain steady glucose levels–levels that maximize neuron function. Both high and low levels of glucose are capable of triggering neuron dysfunction. Repeated glucose spikes in someone with insulin resistance can eventually trigger diffuse brain dysfunction or “Sugar-Brain”. The medical term for this disease is Carbohydrate Associated Reversible Brain syndrome or CARB syndrome. People with CARB syndrome can develop up to 21 brain dysfunction symptoms qualifying them for a diagnosis of a long list of common conditions such as depression, ADHD, autism, eating disorders, anxiety disorders, PTSD, fibromyalgia, bipolar II, irritable bowel syndrome and other conditions.
Because the brain plays a critical role in auto-regulating fat stores, people with CARB syndrome begin to store extra fat at any caloric intake even as they lose lean body mass from dieting.
to read the rest of the story, go to http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/05/08/polio-vaccine-ineffective.aspx