Dr. Michael Dyno
For years, we’ve been arguing whether salt is really “bad” for our health. And when discussing healthy eating and lifestyle choices as well as both my ER patients and friends, the common thread is the inability to distinguish between salt and sodium. They are often mistakenly used interchangeably.
Sodium is a mineral and metal element represented by “Na” in the periodic table. It is the essential nutrients and ions needed to maintain fluid balance in our body, contract and relax muscles, and conduct nerve impulses. However, only a minimum amount of sodium is needed daily to reach these goals.
The salt is a compound with 40% sodium and 60% chloride, that is, “NaCl”.
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Salt has been a magnificent part of human existence for thousands of years, transcending generations, religions and cultures. For centuries, salt has been used as a currency given the value of preserving meat and fish. Today, when people think of salt, they think of “table salt” for flavoring food. And there are many popular forms of salt, such as sea salt and Himalayan salt.
But it’s not necessarily a salt that is dangerous to your health. A groundbreaking meta-analysis published at the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2011 with a total of 6,250 participants found that reducing salt intake reduced the risk of heart attack, stroke, or death in people with normal or hypertension. Showed that there is no compelling evidence that
However, excess sodium is associated with high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke. The strongest evidence is that increasing sodium intake is linked to high blood pressure, and vice versa, reducing sodium intake lowers blood pressure. This mechanism is complicated. For the average healthy person, their kidneys can catch up with excess sodium in the blood. However, with the over-accumulation of sodium over time, the body retains water longer and dilutes the sodium, managing the aforementioned fluid balance. This can increase blood volume, work more on the heart, stress blood vessels, and increase blood pressure.
The CDC estimates that the average American consumes about 3,400 mg of sodium per day. This far exceeds the recommended limit of less than 2,300 mg per day. Americans love sodium. However, they get about 70% of their daily sodium from processed foods and restaurant foods, not from table salt. The biggest causes are pizza, tacos, cold-cut and salted meat sandwiches, soups, burritos, tacos, delicious snacks, and even chicken, cheese and eggs.
More Americans have been diagnosed with high blood pressure than ever before. High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease, killing more Americans each year than any other cause, along with stroke. Much of that high blood pressure is caused by an overdose of sodium from a love for processed foods.
next? More Americans have been diagnosed with high blood pressure than ever before.
The bottom line is that you can choose a healthy diet and lifestyle to significantly reduce your sodium intake. This can be done primarily by avoiding processed foods. It can be further reduced by switching to Himalayan salt, which has less sodium than table and sea salt and contains trace amounts of other important elements. Also, consider increasing potassium with fresh fruits and vegetables. High potassium intake helps to relax blood vessels and help lower blood pressure while excreting sodium.
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