The Real Truth About Salt, and What Should We Get From It
Despite the fact that there hasn't been a lot of evidence linking the risk of heart attack and stroke to increased salt intake alone, we have been advised to lower our salt consumption.
For every study that says there is a greater risk, there is another study the disputes those findings.
The fact is, salt must be an indispensable part of our diet, however with that in mind there are a few facts that we must know about.
Here we will get into some of the reasons how salt got such a bad reputation, especially in the United States.
As with most misinformation it was born from studies that were highly unscientific.
Much of that misinformation was advanced from a study done in the 1970s at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
The conclusion came from a test on rats that were given massive amounts of sodium, or over 50 times what the normal American consumes, each day.
It shouldn't be surprising that the rats developed health issues, including hypertension.
These conclusions on salt seem to have been formed rather recently.
I can remember my dad telling me when he was in the military during World War II that soldiers were issued salt pills to keep their salt intake up.
Although this is no longer done, there was reasoning behind this.
With excessive sweating water along with salt is lost.
Water obviously must be replaced, which is common knowledge, but if salt is likewise not replaced a condition called hyponatremia can take place.
This can lead to nausea, muscle cramps, headache and disorientation.
It is certainly something that long distance runners and people who do high-intensity training have to be aware of.
So obviously we need salt to survive, but which one.
When choosing the best we must understand that not all salt is created equal.
In order for our bodies to function properly there are a number of trace minerals that it needs.
Salt can be a veritable gold mine for these trace minerals.
Here are the ones that you should put in your diet, along with the one you should avoid.
1.
Processed table salt.
This is made up of 97½% sodium chloride and 2½% of man-made chemicals.
This is the one to avoid.
2.
Himalayan pink salt.
Many people swear by this, as it has more than 70 minerals in it.
Just by comparing its pink hue to the pure white of table salt, it is easy to tell it is mineral-rich.
3.
Sea salt.
This is created by evaporating seawater and has little or no processing involved.
Coming from the sea it will have more naturally occurring minerals.
These are just three examples of salt, and it's plain to see that the more natural it comes to your food the more health benefits it will have.
But of course bear in mind that whatever salt you choose it must be consumed in moderation.
The reason is because we must maintain the proper ratio between potassium and sodium in our diet.
Without a proper balance many issues can occur, including hypertension.
But considering that in today's modern diets we get as much as 75% of our sodium to processed foods, eliminating that source could put us back to the time when we really had to be sure that we were getting enough sodium.
For every study that says there is a greater risk, there is another study the disputes those findings.
The fact is, salt must be an indispensable part of our diet, however with that in mind there are a few facts that we must know about.
Here we will get into some of the reasons how salt got such a bad reputation, especially in the United States.
As with most misinformation it was born from studies that were highly unscientific.
Much of that misinformation was advanced from a study done in the 1970s at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
The conclusion came from a test on rats that were given massive amounts of sodium, or over 50 times what the normal American consumes, each day.
It shouldn't be surprising that the rats developed health issues, including hypertension.
These conclusions on salt seem to have been formed rather recently.
I can remember my dad telling me when he was in the military during World War II that soldiers were issued salt pills to keep their salt intake up.
Although this is no longer done, there was reasoning behind this.
With excessive sweating water along with salt is lost.
Water obviously must be replaced, which is common knowledge, but if salt is likewise not replaced a condition called hyponatremia can take place.
This can lead to nausea, muscle cramps, headache and disorientation.
It is certainly something that long distance runners and people who do high-intensity training have to be aware of.
So obviously we need salt to survive, but which one.
When choosing the best we must understand that not all salt is created equal.
In order for our bodies to function properly there are a number of trace minerals that it needs.
Salt can be a veritable gold mine for these trace minerals.
Here are the ones that you should put in your diet, along with the one you should avoid.
1.
Processed table salt.
This is made up of 97½% sodium chloride and 2½% of man-made chemicals.
This is the one to avoid.
2.
Himalayan pink salt.
Many people swear by this, as it has more than 70 minerals in it.
Just by comparing its pink hue to the pure white of table salt, it is easy to tell it is mineral-rich.
3.
Sea salt.
This is created by evaporating seawater and has little or no processing involved.
Coming from the sea it will have more naturally occurring minerals.
These are just three examples of salt, and it's plain to see that the more natural it comes to your food the more health benefits it will have.
But of course bear in mind that whatever salt you choose it must be consumed in moderation.
The reason is because we must maintain the proper ratio between potassium and sodium in our diet.
Without a proper balance many issues can occur, including hypertension.
But considering that in today's modern diets we get as much as 75% of our sodium to processed foods, eliminating that source could put us back to the time when we really had to be sure that we were getting enough sodium.
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