Salt is essential to life. It retains necessary water level during summer to protect people from heat stroke. After heavy exercise also it is necessary to replenish body with salt and water both. When during diarrhoea water is removed from the body rapidly, it becomes necessary to give it with salt and sugar to maintain fluid level. However, the issue remains how much salt is good for human intake. Around five thousand years ago human salt-intake was just 0.25 gm a day, but today the consumption level has gone up to around 8 gm, and even more. The processed food culture has made matters worse. High salt diet puts great pressure on kidneys as their capacity in a day to excrete salt is only around 4-5 gm, thus if taken more than this, it is left in the body causing problem of high blood pressure which leads to heart disease and kidney failure. High intake of salt has been found to cause cancer also.......By Dr PK Mukherjee
Excess salt consumption is bad for health as it leads to high blood pressure forcing the heart work harder and putting it under stress. If not controlled by dietary restriction and proper medication high blood pressure may eventually lead to heart disease and stroke.Salt, which is also known as table salt, is chemically sodium chloride. And chlorides are good to maintain electrolytes in the body. But consuming too much is damaging. Salt-consumption is not all about taking it through cooked food or sprinkling it over curd, salads, fruit chats etc., it always inside the vast majority of food stuffs, available naturally. And in the junk food we eat it is in alarming degree. Bread, cornflakes, ketchups, butter milk, noodles, pickles, potato chips, salted biscuits, sandwiches, pizzas, pasta, Chinese foods, tinned and canned vegetables/fruits, soup, patties, samosas, processed foods etc. contain too much salt.
Chinese foods as well as canned, frozen and packaged foods contain monosodium glutamate (MSG) which is added to enhance flavour. Although it tastes less salty. It has three times more sodium content than common salt. Moreover, MSG may have carcinogenic effect. One must, therefore, be very cautious while consuming such food stuff The daily recommended intake of salt is 6 gm which is actually a leveled teaspoonful. But current food habits ensure that it is always more than this level. Therefore, cooking salt should be added only in moderation. Moreover, one should avoid or at least minimise sprinkling salt over curd, salads, fruit chats etc. As an alternative, one may for sprinkling purposes use rock salt (sendha namak) or black salt (kala namak).They are both considered better than table salt. The black salt is organic in nature and contains some sulphur compounds like sodium sulphate, iron sulphide and hydrogen sulphide which are beneficial for the body. The rock salt is entirely soluble in water and the body enzymes can, therefore, make good use of them.
Potassium may neutralise the harmful effect
For high BP patients, potassium salts are specially recommended which are available under different brand names in the consumer stores. Potassium may neutralise the heart-damaging effects of salt. People who eat a lot of salt and very little potassium are more than twice as likely to die from a heart attack as those who ate about equal amounts of both. The salt content of packaged or processed foods should be checked very carefully. Some food labels list the sodium content instead of the amount of salt. Such food manufacturers camouflage the actual content of sodium chloride in their food products. There is a simple formula to find out how much salt a food product contains. Just multiply the sodium content by 2.5 and you will get the net salt or sodium chloride in the food product.Large amounts of salt not only may lead to high BP, it also puts heavy burden on the kidneys because they have to work harder to remove the excess salt. This might lead to gradual impairment or weakening of the kidneys. Actually, kidneys cannot remove more than 4-5 gm of salt per day leaving unexcreted salt in the body that might give rise to undesirable ailments. Besides, excess salt can cause cancer too. A study conducted by UK based World Cancer Research Fund has recently found that consuming too much salt may increase the risk of developing stomach cancer.
The harmful effects of high intake of sodium can be offset by taking potassium rich diet in the form of fruits and vegetables. But this offsetting effect remains for a short period. The good strategy remains to take salt only within prescribed limit.
A latest research has shown that too much of salt can even affect bones and may lead to kidney stones. It had been known to the medical community that people who consumed high-salt diets were prone to developing medical problems such as kidney stones and osteoporosis. Now, this puzzle seems to have been solved by the medical researchers at the University of Alberta. The research team, led by Tood Alexander, found that sodium and calcium both appear to have been regulated by the same molecule(s) in the body.
When the sodium intake of an individual becomes too high, the body removes it via urine, taking calcium also with it. The levels of calcium in the urine lead to the development of kidney stones while inadequate levels of calcium in the body lead to thin bones and osteoporosis. Don’t think you get sodium only from salt-sprinkled curds, salads, chats, jaljeeras and food cooked and pickled with salt. Sodium is available in natural foods also like milk, fruits, vegetables, grains, eggs etc and even water. When having a look at one’s sodium intake this should also be taken into account. The list on the side is a guide to know from where else we are getting our sodium.
(Note: The article was first published in the Lokayat magazine: June, 2013)
