Did you know that throughout history, salt
has often been more valuable than gold? And there’s a good reason: Aside from being
an important food preservative and making what we eat tastier, salt is essential for
human life. But in larger quantities, salt can also be
deadly. The components of salt (sodium and chloride)
play a major role in our health. And salt is in a delicate balance with the
amount of water in our bodies. But too much salt can raise blood pressure. And that can lead to all sorts of serious
health problems…like an increased risk for heart attack, heart failure, stroke, kidney
disease, and probably even stomach cancer and osteoporosis. The average American man eats about 10 grams
of salt a day, and the average American woman eats about 7 grams. That’s WAY too much, probably more than
twice what is healthy. And if you’re over 50 or have other risk
factors, you should eat even less. A lot of people think that all the commotion
about excess salt and high blood pressure doesn’t apply to them, but actually about
1/3 of adults already have hypertension and another 1/3 have pre-hypertension.
High blood pressure and the health challenges
it leads to are a really big deal. Heart attack is the number one cause of death
in the United States, and stroke is the third. about 100,000 deaths each year have been linked
to simply eating too much salt. There are a number of ways to lower your salt
intake: toss the salt shaker and don’t add salt to the food you make. Ask restaurants not to add salt to your dishes
either. Another good idea is to check sodium content
on labels. Did you know that about 75% of the salt we
eat comes from processed foods like breads, cereals, soups, deli meats, fish and poultry?…And
don’t even get me started on most fast foods….
Salt hasn’t been traditionally regulated
by the US government because it’s been considered “GRAS” or “generally recognize as safe”. But a national coalition has been working
recently to require food manufacturers to limit the amounts of salt they put into their
products. It’s already worked in the UK, Ireland and
Finland…and Japan, Australia and Canada are also on board with this public health
initiative. Now I know from my own work as a nutritionist
that change is difficult for a lot of people, even when the facts are clear and compelling. But the good news is I also know that a person’s
sensitivity to salt can be “reset” within about 3 to 4 months. So by slowly reducing your high salt intake,
your taste buds can adjust to and appreciate the full range of flavors without feeling
meals are bland.
Now that good advice is worth it's weight
in salt..
