Six Things You Should Know About Salt

Is salt really bad for you?  The answer is surprising, since we've been told for years to limit our salt intake to avoid high blood pressure.  To sort fact from fiction, here are 6 things you should know about salt.

1. We need salt.  It helps maintain cellular fluid balance and cardiovascular function.  It plays an important role in the nervous system, allowing neurons to send signals to other neurons and cells, allowing for nerve transmission as well as muscular movement. (source: chriskresser.com)
2. Too little salt intake can be harmful.  Salt deficiency can lead to symptoms of brain swelling, coma, congestive heart failure, cardiovascular collapse following acute blood loss, and impaired stress response.  When average life expectancy is plotted against the countries’ average salt intake, the trend shows that higher salt consumption is actually correlated with longer life expectancy. While this correlation does not imply causation, it is interesting to note the compatibility of a high salt diet with a long life expectancy.  (source:  chriskresser.com)  
3. When did we start thinking salt was bad?  The more salt we eat, the more water our body retains. This increases blood pressure, at least until our kidneys flush out the salt and water. Those who see salt as a problem believe that the effect on blood pressure is more lasting, and that if too much salt is ingested over a long period of time it will cause hypertension and perhaps death. A much-cited study carried out by America's National Institutes of Health in 2001, called the DASH-sodium study, found that participants put on diets that were lower in sodium than the control group ended up with significantly lower blood pressure. This study forms the basis for many of the public-health pronouncements that demonise salt. America's dietary guidelines, based on "a strong body of evidence", put salt at the top of the list of things to avoid.  However, other studies failed to produce similar results.  (source:  The Economist)
4. Later studies show that increased salt intake doesn't always lead to high blood pressure.  A meta-analysis of seven studies involving a total of 6,250 subjects in the American Journal of Hypertension found no strong evidence that cutting salt intake reduces the risk for heart attacks, strokes or death in people with normal or high blood pressure. European researchers publishing in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that the less sodium that study subjects excreted in their urine—an excellent measure of prior consumption—the greater their risk was of dying from heart disease. These findings call into question the common wisdom that excess salt is bad for you, but the evidence linking salt to heart disease has always been tenuous.  (source:  The Economist)
5. What if my doctor tells me to limit my sodium intake?  Follow your doctor's orders.  But you can ask questions.  Studies actually show that the effects of sodium may follow a J-shaped curve. Too little and too much are both harmful, the sweet spot is somewhere in between.  (source:  authoritynutrition.com)
6. How much salt per day is healthy?  There is no doubt it's possible to consume too little sodium, and there is no doubt it's possible to consume too much.  Not everyone is equally sensitive to sodium excess, and in general, it matters more as we age, and to those of us prone to high blood pressure.  The one real "hidden" culprit in all this is processed food.  In the US, we obtain 75% of our salt from processed food.  If we were to follow better, more whole-food based eating habits, then consuming too much salt wouldn't be an issue.  So don't obsess about your salt intake.  Eat a good, balanced diet, minimize your intake of processed foods, season your food to taste, and you won't need to worry about specific quantities. (source:  Huffington Post)

If you're still interested in learning more, refer to the following sites:

• Sodium Deficiency: How it Destroys Our Health (and the Salt Fix)
• Salt: Good or Bad?
• It's Time to End the War on Salt