Are Low-Salt Diets Necessary (or Healthy) for Most People?

WSJ ^ | 03.22.15

[Perdogg]

As Americans have become more aware over the years of nutrition-related health issues, salt has emerged as a major villain in many people’s minds. So much so that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes reducing the U.S. population’s consumption of sodium as “a national priority.” The CDC warns that too much salt can raise people’s blood pressure, putting them at greater risk for heart disease and stroke, among other evils.

But some skeptics believe the threat posed by salt is overblown. Indeed, some say too broad a drive against salt poses its own health risks.

Arguing in favor of a broad reduction in Americans’ salt consumption is Elliott Antman, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and president of the American Heart Association. Warning of the possible health consequences of an overzealous antisalt drive is David A. McCarron, an adjunct professor in the University of California-Davis Department of Nutrition and chairman-elect of the American Society for Nutrition’s Medical/Nutrition Council.

[Verginius Rufus]

Jesus said, “Salt is good.” (Mark 9.50)

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

In physiology, the primary ions of electrolytes are sodium (Na+), potassium (K+), calcium (Ca2+), magnesium (Mg2+), chloride (Cl−), hydrogen phosphate (HPO42−), and hydrogen carbonate (HCO3−). Importantly, these act in a *balance* with each other, and the body is quite good at maintaining this balance, unless you consume a lot of one over a long period of time, or starve yourself of one over a long period of time. If there is a concern about sodium, it should reflect that table salt (sodium chloride) is not the only form of sodium that is found in our food, and health problems might be caused not by the sodium, but the other things combined with sodium. My personal favorite in Original Chex Mix. In the section of its nutrition label that says "Contains 2% or less", it includes "salt" (sodium chloride), "baking soda" (sodium bicarbonate), trisodium phosphate, disodium inosinate, and disodium guanylate. A 1/2 cup serving contains 210mg of sodium, or 9% of adult daily value of sodium. A single bag has 8 servings.

[BwanaNdege]

Glad to help.

In southern Mali, an American mining engineer told me that in their gold mining activities, they were finding hand dug tunnels 60 feet underground which had been dug 300 years ago by slaves. The gold was taken to northern Mali to Timbuktu (which had a reputation in Europe as a source of gold). There it was traded for salt!

In this particular Malian village we could buy coffee tabletop sized slabs of salt in the market which had been brought down by donkey or camel from the Timbuktu area.

[DakotaGator]

Hear, hear!