Feeling Salty Lately?

When is it enough?

It’s very important to know that salt is not a bad thing to include in your body. However, of how much you should have can be confusing sometimes. People with high blood pressure are often told to eat a low-sodium diet; but when a diet that has low sodium may actually increase the risk for cardiovascular disease. Studies have shown that any individual should consume 2.3 grams of sodium a day. In people with high blood pressure, consuming more than 7 grams a day increased the risk by 23 percent, but consuming less than three grams increased the risk by 34 percent, compared with those who ate 4 to 5 grams a day. So the question is, can salt truly be a helper, or a killer in the body?

Pros and Cons

We all know that salt is a white crystalline substance that gives seawater its characteristic taste and is used for seasoning or preserving food. The popular belief that salt intake should be restricted all started in 1972 when a study was conducted examining the effects of dietary salt on rats. The study appeared to show increased salt intake was positively correlated with hypertension. But, when we look a little closer at the details of the study, the rats were given doses of salt equivalent to a human consuming more than 500g or 4.5 cups daily. Having a lot of salt may not be the best idea, but not getting any in your system is just as bad, if not worse.

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