12 Things You Should Know about Salt
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), salt reduction is of equal importance to smoking cessation. Salt is a common seasoning in the British diet. Almost all products, especially the processed ones, contain salt. But how much salt is enough so it doesn’t affect our health? Are there benefits of eating salt? What are the risks associated to it? Here are some surprising facts about salt that you may want to know.
Salt is not the same with sodium. Sodium is a chemical element while salt is a compound made up of sodium and chlorine. Many other food additives contain sodium such as baking soda, monosodium glutamate, sodium benzoate and sodium nitrite. However, salt is where we get most of the sodium we consume.
Sea salt and table salt are the same. Although they have different names, table salt, sea salt, and kosher salt are all the same as they are made from two main ingredients – sodium and chlorine. The only difference would be in the texture and taste.
Most processed foods are high in salt. Only 6% of our daily sodium comes from the salt added at the table while 5% comes from the salt added during cooking. A whopping 77% comes from processed foods! They may not taste ‘salty’ but most processed foods, such as crisps, cereals, pasta sauces, breads, hotdogs and sausages, cheese and other dairy products, and restaurant or fast foods, are often high in salt. If you want to lower your salt intake, it is advisable to eat home-cooked meals more often, using fresh ingredients.
Salt is not pure evil. Contrary to popular view, salt is not all bad. It has health benefits too. In fact, salt is vital in certain bodily processes, such as the regulation of blood pressure and volume, retention of body, fluids stimulation of muscle contraction, and functioning of nerves. Salt also plays a role in digestion and absorption. Too little salt can disrupt the tissue-water and acid-base balance which is essential to good health.
Too much salt can cause high blood pressure. To cut your risk of high blood pressure, you may want to reduce your salt intake. If you already have the condition, the more you want to avoid a high-salt diet. Whilst salt plays a critical role in regulating your blood pressure, too much can do more harm than good. When your salt levels are very high, your kidneys find it hard to keep up and eliminate the excess sodium, so they get stuck in your bloodstream. Since salt attracts water, too much salt in the blood draws in more water, increasing your blood volume which in turn raises your blood pressure.
A high-salt diet can cause heart disease. The ability of salt to raise your blood pressure makes it a risk factor for heart disease. High blood pressure increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular problems.
Sport drinks are usually high in salt. These beverages contain electrolytes which are made up of sodium, potassium, and calcium that all give you a quick energy boost. But unless you sweat it out, you could be increasing your sodium levels if you consume sport drinks often.
Exercising could help eliminate excess salt. One way to counter the negative effects of salt on your blood pressure is to exercise. Physical activities help flush salt from your body through perspiration and metabolism. Nutrition experts recommend exercising for at least 150 minutes a day to lower your risk of heart disease, including stroke and heart attack.
Adults should consume no more than a teaspoon of salt. According to the Committee on Medical Aspects of Foods (COMA), people 11 years and above should consume no more than 6 grams of salt every day. This is equivalent to one teaspoon a day. But because most pre-packed foods are high in salt, many people tend to exceed this limit. On average, Britons consume 8.1g salt (3.2g sodium) a day. If you have high blood pressure, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease, you should not go beyond the suggested daily intake. Some people may require less.
Men tend to consume more salt than women. This is simply because they tend to eat more than women do. According to the British Heart Foundation, reducing the average salt intake by just one gram could save the lives of 25,000 people and cut health costs by £1.5billion every year.
It takes time to adjust your salt preference. If your diet is high in salt, you might find it hard to adjust your palate and switch to foods that have less salt. On average, it may take 8 to 12 weeks before you can completely adapt a low-salt diet. But definitely, the wait and effort are all worth it.
A ‘sodium-free’ product doesn’t mean it has no salt. Food labelling guidelines allow up to 5mg of sodium for the product to be labelled ‘sodium-free’. You’ll find other deceiving terms in food labels. These include ‘without added salt’ or ‘no salt added’ which actually means there’s no salt added beyond the amount that occurs naturally in the food.
Dear Readers,
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