Lung Disorders 137
1960s. However, between the end of World War II in 1946 and 1960,
there was a tremendous growth in air-polluting industries. This trans-
formed emphysema, which before that time was a rare disease, into one
of epidemic proportions.
Anna and her husband, Olaf, who lived in Malmö, Sweden, moved
to New York City when Olaf, who worked for a multinational paper
company, was transferred to the New York offi ce. Anna had not smoked
as much as a single cigarette, but her lungs were so sensitive to the pol-
lutants in the New York air that she had pneumonia six times during
the twenty years she lived in New York City. Pneumonia, a bacterial or
viral infection that infl ames the alveolar sacs and causes them to fi ll
with fl uid, is a causative factor in emphysema. After her last bout of
pneumonia, Anna developed emphysema. On the advice of her doctor
she and Olaf left New York and settled permanently in their summer
place in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Anna hasn’t had pneumonia since.
Treatments That Detoxify the Lungs
Juiced vegetables, especially celery and dandelion juice, detoxify the
lungs. The circulating blood carries this juice to the liver, which uses
the alkaline minerals in the juice to neutralize metabolic wastes and
heavy metals. The detoxifi ed blood leaves the liver and eventually cir-
culates in the lungs, where it neutralizes wastes trapped in the air sacs.
Once cleared of this garbage, the infl amed air sacs and bronchioles have
a chance to heal.
The chlorophyll molecules in vegetable juice, by rebuilding the hemo-
globin molecules in the red blood cells, play a big part in enabling the
lungs to take in more oxygen. This reconstruction is possible because of
the similarity between the chlorophyll and hemoglobin molecules. Both
contain a mineral—in chlorophyll it’s magnesium; in hemoglobin, its
iron—surrounded by carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms in the same
order. When any of the elements encircling the iron in hemoglobin are
missing, the chlorophyll molecule in the juice replaces the missing
atomic elements. Thus reconstituted, the positively charged iron in
hemoglobin can once again exert its magnetism and pull out the nega-
tively charged oxygen molecules in the air sacs of the lungs, with the
result that more oxygen is absorbed into the blood.
