The average person eats about 10g of salt per day- three times as much as we need. Sodium chloride is just one salt. We encounter many others in our life. Sodium chloride triggers a specific reaction on the tongue that no other salt or mineral does. There can be substitutes for sugar but NOT for salt.
Every cell in our body needs sodium. Sodium is used mainly with potassium to move electrical impulses along nerve fibers. We must continuously consume salt because it is lost through our sweat glands to try and cool us down. It seems as if sodium has a bad reputation but: if you took a large dose of sodium chloride you would only vomit, while taking a large dose of potassium chloride would kill you because it disrupts the rhythm of your heart.
It is not necessary to add salt to your food- there's already plenty in there! Excess salt is bad for people with kidney disease and it raises their blood pressure. In a study conducted in London it was concluded that 70,000 deaths could be prevented per year in the UK by reducing salt in the diet.
Salt and sugar can save millions of lives in tropical countries. Diarrhoea, and the dehydration it causes, kills twelve million children every year. Here's the solution: a drink made of 8 teaspoons of sugar and one of salt in a pint of water. It will save a sick child's life. These two chemicals can effectively and cheaply restore lost bodily fluid.
This is very interesting, I never knew this about salt and sugar. It's amazing how much regular citizens of this country do not know about the foods they consume!
ReplyDeleteThat is definitely a lot of deaths that could be prevented by just not eating as much salt! I never realized how harmful too much salt really is :P
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean if we don't consume a lot of sodium we would sweat less? Oh and do you think since it raises blood pressure people with low blood pressure are told to eat more salt? :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think we would sweat less if we consumed less sodium. Maybe we would go through stages of dehydration? But I'm not sure. To me, that would make sense if they had low blood pressure to eat more salt. Yet again, I'm not sure exactly what they are told if they have low blood pressure.
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