Another ongoing travesty is salt (sodium chloride), and its evil capacity to incite hypertension. When we look at sodium with an objective eye we see that the minority of hypertensive patients worsen when their salt intake is more than a small amount. But the majority of hypertensives aren't effected, and those people who have normal blood pressures are not effected by salt either. The usual suspect: salt.

But can there be only one factor which causes a disease process or condition to develop? In most cases there are multiple reasons. We've been taught from an early age that there is this single causation factor in seemingly everything in life: what (one thing) causes cancer, headaches, AIDS, colitis? And researchers often look, sometimes blindly, up and down, in and out for that one cause. Suppose there were five phenomenon which had to be present to get cancer, and they're looking for the "one"? I suspect that because of the research methods in use, that's why the billions of dollars spent on finding a cure for the common cold has failed. But that germ can't allude the scientists too much longer, or can it?

One of the most common suspects, a favorite of many, is the germ. This is usually a virus or bacteria. These suspicious little "bugs" are well known to be the culprit in many diseases. But from the time these suspects were discovered more than a hundred year ago, there were many who said we're blaming it on the wrong culprit. It was Louis Pasteur who discovered and promoted the germ theory, which says that germs cause disease, period. Since then, many heated debates have ensued, with some people consuming or injecting deadly germs to prove that an unhealthy body was the culprit. They believed that a healthy body could not succumb to disease since these germs did not have the proper "soil" to grow. Indeed, Pasteur argued hard for his germ theory, but on his death bed admitted "it's not the seed but the soil." Today we know that most people exposed to a bacteria or virus will not get sick. But most people still have the vision that there are these germs out there, hiding in a dark alley just looking for you to walk by and bang, they get you. The usual suspect: the germ.

There is another element in this picture. It is, perhaps, the most important one—we are all unique individuals. Each person has a body which responds a little different, sometimes a lot different, to the same stimulus. Some are more efficient at handling emotional or physical stress, others more capable of eating foods which are not compatible with others, and some seemingly are immune to colds and flu. With rare exceptions, one culprit can't be used for the whole population. In reality, we each have our own suspects to round up in any situation. And it's up to each one of us to be aware of our own weaknesses, with the help of accurate information. Unfortunately, we are bombarded by misleading information from the media, advertising and even our own doctors at times.