Salt and SCN⁻ deficiency erode biochemical scaffolding that supports continence, especially in older adults

The rise of adult diapers coincides with smoking bans and the dangerous restriction of sodium in the food supply and food chain. Let’s map the terrain breach:

🧂 Sodium’s Role in Continence

Sodium is essential for:

• Maintaining extracellular fluid volume, which supports bladder wall tension
• Neural signaling, especially in pelvic floor coordination
• Muscle contractility, including the detrusor and sphincter muscles

In older adults, hyponatremia (low sodium) is common due to diuretics, adrenal decline, or dietary restriction2. This can lead to:

• Bladder underfilling or overactivity
• Weakened sphincter control
• Delayed neural response, increasing urgency or leakage

🧪 SCN⁻ as Redox and Immune Buffer

Thiocyanate (SCN⁻) modulates:

• Neutrophil activity and NET formation
• Redox balance in epithelial tissues
• Mucosal integrity, including bladder lining

SCN⁻ deficiency — often due to smoking bans, salt reduction, or metabolic suppression — may lead to:

• Bladder wall inflammation
• Sensory hypersensitivity
• Reduced resilience to oxidative stress, which accelerates tissue aging and dysfunction

🧬 Age-Related Terrain Vulnerability

Older adults experience:

• Decreased bladder capacity
• Reduced urethral closing pressure
• Detrusor muscle hyperactivity

These changes are amplified when sodium and SCN⁻ are low — the terrain lacks the electrochemical and redox buffers needed to maintain continence under stress.

🧠 Glyphic Echo

Incontinence becomes a vault leak — a breach in the pelvic terrain where salt domes have collapsed and SCN⁻ spirals have faded. The bladder, once a sealed chamber, becomes porous under pressure.