The Truth About Salt and its Health Benefits
Salt is an affordable tasty additive and preservative as we all know ,extensively used all over the world. But, now with the conflicting reports coming up about the ill effects of salt intake or rather too much salt intake one is not sure what is the truth and how far one can go?
I was reading an article published in a magazine written by Dr Angell who runs a Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Control Program at the New York City depatment of health and mental hygeine , where she writes about the mineral Salt. According to her - " It is a nutrient that we are eating in excess to the point where it has become dangerous "..For decades now doctors have been telling us that it is one of the vitamins in our diet but now we see an about turn regarding the same issue and many doctors and nutritional experts have been crusading against salt , asking people to cut down since it triggers strokes and heart diseases ...
There is however another school of thought which goes on to say that there is little truth in this since so far they have not been able to prove that slashing or cutting down salt from your diet will prevent strokes or heart diseases or save lives .Not every one in the medical community agree with this either so opinions are divided. According to many doctors , while it makes sense to cut down on salt for those suffering from High Blood Pressure , it doesnt mean that there is any benefit for others to do the same.
History of Salt
Salt has been a part of human lives for at least 10,000 years. Chineses were the first ones to discover that salt could also be used to preserve food items , allowing people to survive long,cold winters with a stash of salted supplies . Later of course wars were fought over it .The term Salad and Salary( salt money ) both came from the word salt.The intake reached its peak in the 1800's when salt was extensively used for preserving food, however this demand declined when refrigeration became popular and wide spread. Again the demand went higher as packaged food and convenience foods began to replace fresh food in normal American and European diets .This practice of using convenient food spread all over the world thereby taking up the demand for salt. According to some studies made in the year 2000, 80 percent of salt was consumed through processed foods in developed countries .Thats when reality stuck and the campaign against salt began in earnest.
Our bodies need salt because sodium helps our brains transmit signals and keeps our brain cells and the fluid surrounding them in balance.But according to studies consumpion of more than 4 .100 mg of sodium per day tends to increase ones Blood pressure .However, it was also noted that when lots of fluids or water was taken along with such diet , the fluid or water content in our system had a balancing effect.
The Effect of Sodium on our system
According to medical surveys , there is little doubt that reducing salt for those with high blood pressure , does help. Slashing 1.800 mg of salt every day can bring down at least 5 points for systolic and 3-4 points for diastolic.
Blood Pressure by the Numbers
In simple every day language this means...
Systolic pressure is the first higher number in the fraction , which is a measure of the peak force exerted by your blood against your artery walls .
Diastolic means the second lower number in the fraction measuring the minimum pressure between the heart beats.
120/80 means Normal Blood pressure
upto 139/89 means Pre - Hypertension levels ( normal to low blood pressure)
upto 159/99 means Hypertension levels ( mild high blood pressure)
upto 160/100 means stage 2 hypertension ( moderate to severe Blood pressure )
So , we can see that a reduction of salt which in turn helps in reducing those points can really help one in controlling the blood pressure.But many doctors argue that it does not help when the pressure is very high since a reduction of 5 points will not be of too much help. Also , another important point was that over a period of time it has been noticed that the points tend to get smaller because the body adjusts itself to lower levels of salt intake and functions as before . However, even a small decrease in points goes a long way so cutting down salt does have its initial benefits and combined with a sensible diet it does help.
A dietary change might prove to be much more helpful, like increasing the use of water and fluids , also fresh fruits ,vegetables and nuts in your diet is known to benefit those having high blood pressure .
How low can one go ?
At the same time totally cutting down on salt has its own disadvantages. According to several studies conducted on the subject many dieticinas are of the opinion that 2.30 mg is the maximum dose of salt recommended for an adult individual per day.But some take it even lower than that to just 1.55 mg per day which is roughly a litle more than half a tea spoonful of salt every day, which includes everything you eat - chips,wafers , snacks,home cooked meals , pickles, packaged foods etc etc..so one has to be very careful and start counting the grains that we consume .
This figure has been arrived as a precautionary measure to lower blood pressure right from the beginning so that once we get used to the lower intake of salt the blood pressure becomes steadier and people become a lot more healthier .This is especially helpful for those who are border line blood pressure groups whose points decrease to normal levels.If you start early you can prevent Blood pressure from rising further and later leading to complications .
According to statistics the campaign against high intake of salt has been successful since the intake has come down by almost 10 % between the years 2002 - 2010.According to studies conducted on various cross section of the world population ,on an average most people consume between 3.300 - 3.450 mgs of salt each day which is still far higher than the recommended healthy levels , but lower than what it was before at 4.100 mg.
Finally, what is important is for us to understand that the ideal intake of salt varies from person to person depending on many factors like climate ,physical activity,food habits and general health conditions.Nutrition is not about one size fits all , but it is all about customising it according to our bodily needs .If you have no blood pressure and if you cut down on your salt intake it can have disastrous effects on your health.So it is imporatnt to maintain the right balance when you add salt into your diet !
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