Circulator Boot Company

Relative Composition of Sea Soaks™, Sea Water and Tissue Culture Media

What is Sea Soaks?
Sea Soaks™ is sea water that has been microfiltered, processed and diluted to mimic the primordial sea. Besides the "bulk" elements familiar to many, it contains all of the trace elements necessary for life. We still make small batches of Sea Soaks from ocean water, but the bulk of our production is now appropriately diluted synthetic sea water made from the mixture of reagent grade chemicals and buffered with phosphate to a physiologic pH. It is sold in cases containing six quart bottles of concentrated solution that are diluted by the user to make six gallons of Sea Soaks solution.

Trace Elements and Soak Solutions

The average physician is well acquainted with the most plentiful or bulk elements in the body: calcium, carbon, chloride, hydrogen, magnesium, oxygen, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and sulfur. Elements like nitrogen have drawn more recent attention as tissue hormones, like nitrous oxide, have been described. These elements are all plentiful in sea water from which life evolved.
Less plentiful in both human serum and sea water are the trace elements. It is known that in the absence of these elements, the organism does not survive. At low levels, a pathological deficiency state is common. At higher than normal levels, a toxic but non-lethal state exists. While at high levels, the elements become poisonous or toxic.
Much work has been done in the medical industry to preserve life in the test tube. A "standard tissue bank" would allow the drug industry to test new compounds in human tissue lessening the cost and risk of experimentation in both people and animals. In this regard, multiple attempts to develop the perfect culture media have been made. In the table below, the components of culture media are compared with those in sea water.... and Sea Soaks™.
Physiologic saline is commonly used as a wound soak. The compound, of course, is not "physiologic" except in its osmolality. Sodium chloride has been used for eons as a food preservative. Sodium is rich in the serum but poor in the intracellular water. Cells expend much of their energy in expelling sodium from the cell. The application of high concentrations of sodium overcomes the cell pump and becomes toxic. In well-vascularized lesions that ooze a serous discharge, the "bulk" and trace" elements are provided by the body to the lesion. In poorly vascularized lesions, however, the application of saline is potentially toxic and may impede wound healing. Sea Soaks™ has been designed for the care of these lesions.

Sea Soaks™ Sea Water Culture Media Serum Intracellular Fluid

Calcium
7.87mEq/L 20.5mEq/L 6.0-48.0mEq/L 4.4-5.1mEq/L 0.0001mEq/L

Magnesium
21.8mEq/L 107.2mEq/L 0.82-10.0mEq/L 1.51-2.20mEq/L 58mEq/L

Potassium
2.98mEq/L 9.963mEq/L 1.0-5.8mEq/L 3.5-5.1mEq/L 140mEq/L

Sodium
132mEq/L 470.7mEq/L 130-160mEq/L 136-146mEq/L 10mEq/L

Chloride
161mEq/L 548.7mEq/L 110-150mEq/L 98-106mEq/L 4mEq/L

Bicarbonate
- - 6.7-44mEq/L 22-29mEq/L 10mEq/L

Phosphate
1.1E-8 to 1.1E-6 M* 3.3E-8 to 3.3E-6 M* 0.3-16.8mEq/L 0.74-3.07E-3 M/L 75mEq/L

Sulfate
0.0089M* 0.0268M* 0.000003-0.0015M 0.0001-0.00065M 2mEq/L

Chromium
Trace Trace 1.0 E-9M 2.7 E-9M -

Cobalt
Trace Trace 5.5 E-10 to 1E-6 M 3.4-4.8 E-10 M -

Copper
0.53-5.3E-8 M 1.6-16E-8 M 1 E-9 to 2 E-7 M 1.1-2.4 E-5 M -

Fluorine
2.5E-5 M 7.5E-5 M 1 E-5 mEq/L 0.5-10.5 E-6M -

Iodine
1.3E-7 M 4.0E-7 M 1E-6 mEq/L 0.79-1.2 E-7 M -

Iron
1.2-12.3E-8 M 3.7-37E-8 M 3.1E-9 to 2E-5 M 0.9-3.0 E-5M -

Manganese
0.6-6E-8 M M 1.8-18E-8 M 4E-10 to 9.5E-8 M 7.28-25.5 E-8 M -

Molybdenum
1.77E-9 M 5.3E-9 M 7E-10 to 1.4E-7 M 3.9-8.2 E-9 M -

Nickel
0.58E-9 M 1.75E-9 M 5E-12 to 1E-9 M 1.9-7.8 E-8 M -

Selenium
1.73E-9 M 5.2E-9 M 1.4E-10 to 3E-8 M 1.3-4.3 E-6 M -

Silicon
2.4E-7 to 0.5E-4 M 7.3E-7 to 1.5E-4 M 1E-9 to 1E-5 M 1.4 -35.7 E-5 M -

Tin
Trace Trace 5E-12 to 1E-8 M - -

Vanadium
2E-9 M 6E-9 M 5E-9 to 1E-8M 0.4-1.96 E-9 M -

Zinc
2.6E-8 M 7.8E-8 M 1.1E-8 to 3E-6 M 1.1-2.3 E-5 M -

Osmolality
285 mOs 862+/-1 mOs** 280-290mOs 275-295mOs 275-295mOs

* Expressed as the elemental substance.
** As determined on water from the Atlantic Ocean taken 5 miles off the shore of New Jersey 0n October 25th, 1982.
The concentrations are given in milliequivalents/liter (mEq/L) for the more abundant elements and in moles per liter (M) for the less abundant elements with variable valences.
"E-Number" signifies "x10" to a negative number exponent.

CBC has requested from the FDA permission to market Sea Soaks for various medical purposes. While they had no concern about our rationale in using it for a wound soak, for example, they noted that claiming specific medical usages made it a "drug". Being a "drug", they further noted, Congress requires that it have a single major active ingredient. We came to an impasse: we provide a balance of elements and do not claim a single active ingredient. Hence, if we were to make medical claims for Sea Soaks, we would violate FDA regulations. We make no specific claims. We invite the medical profession to examine our product and decide for themselves where it might best help the public. We would prefer to continue making our product from sea water. Our users do well to check the label of our current products for our current constituents. We will continue to try to match or top the benefits of the natural product.

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Electrolytes, Trace elements and Fluid Compartments