Don’t Have Faulty Ideas About Salt
Catherine J. Frompovich | Jan 31, 2012 | Comments 14
By now just about everybody’s heard that we should cut back on salt to avoid high blood pressure, heart disease and other physiological complications. But that advice is wrongheaded and simplistic. Getting too little salt can be as harmful as getting too much. The fact is you need just the right amount of salt and the right kind of salt to protect your health.
Salty Revelation
In November, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a revelatory paper discussing the relationship of sodium imbalances with cardiovascular events like heart attack, stroke and congestive heart failure among hospitalized patients. One of the findings confirmed a correlation between these problems and having higher or lower sodium levels than the American average of 4,000 to 6,500 mg of sodium a day.
From their analyses, the researchers came up with a J-shaped curve demonstrating that people had cardiovascular problems when they had high and low salt consumption. People in the middle range ran a lower risk. Also, the same researchers noted that the risk of a heart problem didn’t occur until sodium levels reached and/or exceeded 6,500 mg a day. This seems to indicate that we need more sodium than has been generally accepted. But we should limit the type of salt we get in processed foods like potato chips and canned soups.
Across The Great Divide
However, there seems to be a huge scientific divide: Consumers have been told for what seems like ages that daily sodium intake should be no more than 2,000 mg a day according to the World Health Organization (WHO); 1,500 mg a day according to the U.S. American Heart Association (AHA); and 1500 to 2300 mg, depending upon age, per the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Personally, and as a retired natural nutritionist, I think the WHO, AHA and HHS figures are — and have been — off the mark for several reasons.
First and foremost, there are subtle differences between plant-based sodium and table salt that the medical and pharmaceutical industries and health agencies don’t make clear to consumers. Said differences influence whether body chemistry works efficiently or detrimentally. Sodium is essential to life processes, and that’s why nature includes it in all food.
Salt Observation
Sodium (Na for the Latin Natrum) is in the alkali metals group of elements possessing number 11 on the Periodic Table of the Elements and is the sixth most-abundant element. The most familiar or common sodium compound is halite (sodium chloride, NaCl) also known as table salt, which is refined salt that is overused — if not abused — by the food processing industry.
Sodium is a key mineral element in maintaining fluid balance in and between cells in the body, plus it plays a vital electrical role critical for nerve function.
Here’s where it may get a little confusing: Humans evolved over thousands upon thousands of years eating plant foods that basically were balanced by nature with correct ratios of sodium to potassium for cellular functions. That apparently unrecognized factoid was not valued, either was forgotten or deliberately ignored, and consequently not factored in when the food processing industry began adding huge amounts of salt to food. In addition, food additives deposited in processed foods often include sodium in their composition.
Minerals In Vegetables
Contrast this unbalanced emphasis on sodium to the mineral balance in vegetables. Fresh asparagus, which is a great aid to kidney health, contains almost six times as much potassium as sodium. Bananas are also rich in potassium. Nature embedded various nutrients within all plant foods that automatically balance nutrient status if and when we eat a varied diet of organically grown food, as raw or unprocessed as possible, without chemicals or genetically modified organisms.
Additives to table salt can include — depending upon country — iodine in the form of iodide salts (United States); fluoride (a protoplasmic poison) in countries where water fluoridation does not occur (France); numerous chemical anti-caking agents; iron; folic acid; and even a form of sugar (usually dextrose supposedly to stabilize iodide).
In the JAMA study I mentioned at the beginning, heart problems only seemed to be linked to excess salt when daily sodium levels reached 6,500 mg. Because what is truly important is the balancing of the four cationic electrolytes: sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium.
But conventional medicine is trying to pigeonhole everyone’s sodium/potassium ratios into a one-size-fits-all model that over-prescribes blood pressure medications. But these medications may be doing more harm than good, by taking minerals out of the body and harming the kidneys.
Sea Salt
According to conventional wisdom, I should have been on high blood pressure meds for years. But my diet contains sea salt. Consequently, my most recent blood pressure reading was 106/60. Of course, I don’t eat processed foods or allow chemicals in my food or water and haven’t for 40 years.
The way electrolytes function in the body, sodium usually works outside cells while potassium functions inside the cells. This placement functions in the maintenance of a bodily balance of these minerals.
But when you take diuretic drugs for your blood pressure and don’t get adequate sea salt, you throw this balance out of whack. Studies like the one in JAMA show that we are long overdue for a re-evaluation of the medical hypertension paradigm.
In addition, there’s no telling how many seniors who are on hypertension meds become dehydrated. Often, in these cases, doctors provide an intravenous drip to re-supply fluid and electrolytes. Eating plenty of leafy greens and high potassium foods, plus losing some weight, could bring blood pressure into normal range.
An imbalance in sodium and potassium may also be responsible for heart arrhythmias or, perhaps, dementias linked to strong diuretics that drain the body of fluids and essential nutrients. And too many people forget to drink plenty of pure water.
To give you an idea of where sodium is in your diet, here are some examples of salt content from the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference:
One cup drained snap green beans canned……… 354 mg sodium [mostly NaCl]
One cup cooked without salt fresh green beans…. 1 mg [natural-occurring] sodium
One cup drained broccoli cooked without salt ……64 mg [natural-occurring] sodium
One tablespoon salted butter……………………. 82 mg sodium [mostly NaCl]
One tablespoon unsalted butter………………… 2 mg [natural-occurring] sodium
12 oz carbonated ginger ale soda……………… 26 mg sodium
One cup drained carrots canned………………… 353 mg sodium [mostly NaCl]
One cup drained cooked fresh carrots………….. 90 mg [natural-occurring] sodium
In these values, you can readily see how food processing changes sodium content. To find the natural sodium and table salt contents of foods listed from A to Z on a total of 26 pages, you can study this U.S. Department of Agriculture website.
Filed Under: Alternative Medicine • Easy Health Digest™ • Heart and Cardiovascular • Heart Concerns • Nutrition
Thankyou for you article – very interesting
You do not mention Himalyan Salt which I believe is the most healthy form of salt you can get. I take a sole solution every morning and have noticed a huge difference. It contains all the minerals you need in the correct balance and has a host of other benefits. Do you have any research on this
Thank you for enlightening me. I too was advised by doctors about reducing salt in my diet. With prompting from my wife we use Himalayan salt , eat salads and fresh veg mostly. My BP is normal. I also found meditation to be a great help.
Interesting Article, can we please have more info to compare sea-salt with
common ‘table-salt’, also are there any scientific studies to compare blood
pressure readings with sea-salt and common-salt diets?
Not sure what Himalayan salt is but presumably isn’t sea-salt.
The whole subject of salt and the other minerals mentioned such as
potassium have been discussed for decades without definitive and
scientifically-proven conclusions. Perhaps there isn’t anything in it
for the pharma industry!
Percy
The emphasis on sodium intake is misplaced. Its the chloride content of food (mostly from salt) that is more damaging. Chloride accounts for, perhaps, 90% of the acidity in the bloodstream, and excess acidity contributes to a whole host of diseases, such as cancer and osteoporosis.
Its a little known fact that salt is acidifying to the body. This is because the sodium is excreted faster than the chloride, leaving the blood in a, relatively, acid state. Sodium from natural foods is balanced, not only by the right amount of potassium, but also by a less- than stochiometric amount of chloride. Remember, when Ghandi was fasting he only took a little sea salt, along with some sodium bicarbonate! So the proper ratio of sodium to chloride in a diet should probably be around 1.5 to 1. Animal husbandry findings verify this (milk cows are fed sodium bicarbonate).
As a sufferer of fibromyalgia I’m prone to muscle spasms and if I eat something salty, such as chips, before bedtime, I will wake up with the most excruciating charley-horse, that is only relieved by BAKING SODA (more sodium!). I have also treated high blood pressure patients effectively with baking soda, which somewhat mimics a vegetarian diet.
Larry McCuaig PhD (Nutritional Biochemistry)
Unfortunately, I cannot advise anyone on salt/sodium intake. It’s an individual body chemistry issue that I think is a restricted area between a patient and his or her physician.
What I’ve tried doing in my article is to inform readers of the necessity to evaluate salt/sodium in their diets–both pro and con; it’s necessary value in maintaining cellular viscosity along with pH balance, if I didn’t mention that; and that, perhaps, even those who are supposed to know, really don’t know how the salt/sodium-hypertension ratio factor in the body works other than to prescribe diuretics to a growing number of patients, which I personally think leads to chronic kidney problems and cardiovascular anomalies. But that’s my professional opinion, which MDs may not agree with due to an apparently outdated perception of the body’s real need for salt/sodium. Like anything medical, it’s an individual adjustment, not a ‘one size solution’ fits all, in my opinion.
Here is a link to a journal article that I think may help you understand a little more about salt/sodium. I suggest if you have questions regarding salt/sodium, print the journal article and discuss it with your physician. http://www.ajcn.org/content/92/5/1005.full
I enjoyed reading your comments. Even though, as you state, our ancestors from their eating a lot of plant based foods led to a balance of Na & K in their diets, it seems salt was considered precious in some countries, & serious trading of it was carried out, & I presume was an important part of their diet.
Dr. McCuaig’s above states that the chloride part of salt can lead to acidifying our blood stream, which can cause disease, is understandable.
Then Dr. Batmanghelidj in his book The “Bodie’s many cries for water” states how important it is to add salt to our water intake.
We use himalayan or celtic salt as our taste buds desire. We are not on any medications. Do you have any thoughts comments or advice for us as we do try to look after our health? It can certainly be confusing reading the different health articles
Unfortunately, as I stated earlier, I cannot give advice as I’m not a medical doctor. However, I can share with you that in my practice as a consulting natural nutritionist (now retired), I saw clients who did what you are doing and it was my general counsel to say not to add salt to drinking or cooking water, but to use sea salt in food preparation, e.g., recipes or at table, but not with a heavy hand.
Please keep in mind that everything is BALANCE, and too much of a good thing also can precipitate similar health problems as the bad stuff. Also, there is somewhat of a hypothesis that those who crave salt may have some adrenal insufficiency, or ‘tired’ adrenal glands. Many physicians, unfortunately, do not recognize hypoandrenia and those patients often go from pillar to post trying to find help.
I agree with you that there’s a lot of confusing information out there and that’s why I wrote the article. Furthermore, as always, we have to be careful to note who finances studies and researchers. Could there be any possible conflict s of interests that may color their results?
Real good article,but why don’t you translate the daily required salt intake, from all these milligrams to tea or table spoons-Most people don’t know that equivalent-
Best regards,
Leo
One level TEAspoon of salt is equivalent to about 2400 mg, which comes in just over the high range for daily consumption according to the American Heart Association.
As I contend, there is a HUGE need for the revisiting of salt intake from what type of salt/sodium to removing exorbitant amounts of sodium chloride from processed foods.
I hope this helps.
Sorry, but I just realized that I quoted the wrong source; it’s not the American Heart Association figure, it’s “1500 to 2300 mg, depending upon age, per the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).”
My sincere apology. Moral: Don’t try to multitask sometimes.
I have found that when working in hot areas like Phoenix, that along with lots of water, you need salt and electrolites or you will pass out.
Fred, I agree with you, but not everyone lives in lovely Arizona. However, those readers who frequent saunas, need to take note, as do those who break a heavy sweat during exercise. As I said before, no one size fits all with regard to the salt/sodium issue.
I use Himalayan salt in my neti pot to keep nasal passages moist. Since I do not have a humidifier, I have found that this routine relieves the bloody nose syndrome caused by dry air.
Thank you also for the information on using sea salt. I was unaware of its benefit. I no longer have to take high blood pressure medicine.
Additional salt is suggested if you have low adrenal output – it has been suggested that as many as 50% of us have low adrenals!!
June Russell – russells@warmhearthva.org