Great article, but please read it with a grain of salt. Everything should be in moderation and it sounds like this guy owns stocks in some salt company or something.
Anyway, read it and tell us what you think.
Source: nationalpost.com
-----------------------------
Take all those health warnings about table salt with a pinch of salt. The evidence that our current levels of salt consumption do more harm than good for human health has little weight, any which way you look at it.
The Japanese have one of the world's highest levels of salt consumption and are also the most long-lived people on Earth, with the possible exception of Jews, whose kosher salt-laced foods rival those of the Japanese. In fact, the societies that consume the most salt tend to enjoy the longest life spans, and societal wellbeing throughout history has been tied to the availability of salt.
Salt is no mere food additive. It is fundamental to life, an indispensable regulator whose sodium ions keep our bodies' chemicals in check and prevent our bodily systems from spinning out of control. Hippocrates in the 5th century BC realized that salt controlled our excretions and other basic functions, and developed salt treatments as an anti-inflammatory for respiratory diseases and for topical wounds. Ancient Jewish kosher laws relied on salt to protect the body from food-borne pathogens. The Latin word for health, salus, comes from sal, or salt, as does our salute and the French salutation, "salut." Numerous societies venerated salt, often incorporating it into their traditions.
Because the body cannot manufacture its own salt, and because body functions are utterly dependent on salt, we humans must continually take in salt with our food to survive -- some estimate our physiological need at 5 to 10 grams per day. Salts perform service to us in our blood, in our organs and in our cells, and although medicine ultimately knows little about salt's complex role in the human body, we do know that when we become salt-deprived, our body fluids react by changing the body's level of insulin, potassium and excretions. Numerous diseases are associated with salt deprivation.
Should we dismiss all the studies showing a link between excess salt consumption and human health? No, each represents a small piece in the giant jigsaw puzzle that is the enigma of the workings of the human body. Some studies indicate, for example, that salt intake is related to blood pressure and blood pressure is in turn related to various ailments. Some demographic sectors of society -- in particular various African American subsets -- tend to be salt-sensitive, making them subject to salt-related conditions that Caucasians are impervious to.
But none of the many studies into salt has justified the generalized leap that some make in assuming a harmful health effect -- none has ever shown, for example, that salt consumption increases overall death rates, or death rates from cardiovascular diseases, or from heart attack or from any other cause.
On the other hand, studies do point to increased risk of heart attack and higher death rates among some individuals on low-salt diets. As explained in Reducing dietary sodium: the case for caution, an article published earlier this year in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, only one controlled trial of low-salt diets has taken place and it demonstrated worse outcomes. Other studies are split, with most showing no health benefit of reducing dietary salt. Populations that may be especially vulnerable to low-salt diets include the elderly and the pregnant.
Anyway, read it and tell us what you think.
Source: nationalpost.com
-----------------------------
Take all those health warnings about table salt with a pinch of salt. The evidence that our current levels of salt consumption do more harm than good for human health has little weight, any which way you look at it.
The Japanese have one of the world's highest levels of salt consumption and are also the most long-lived people on Earth, with the possible exception of Jews, whose kosher salt-laced foods rival those of the Japanese. In fact, the societies that consume the most salt tend to enjoy the longest life spans, and societal wellbeing throughout history has been tied to the availability of salt.
Salt is no mere food additive. It is fundamental to life, an indispensable regulator whose sodium ions keep our bodies' chemicals in check and prevent our bodily systems from spinning out of control. Hippocrates in the 5th century BC realized that salt controlled our excretions and other basic functions, and developed salt treatments as an anti-inflammatory for respiratory diseases and for topical wounds. Ancient Jewish kosher laws relied on salt to protect the body from food-borne pathogens. The Latin word for health, salus, comes from sal, or salt, as does our salute and the French salutation, "salut." Numerous societies venerated salt, often incorporating it into their traditions.
Because the body cannot manufacture its own salt, and because body functions are utterly dependent on salt, we humans must continually take in salt with our food to survive -- some estimate our physiological need at 5 to 10 grams per day. Salts perform service to us in our blood, in our organs and in our cells, and although medicine ultimately knows little about salt's complex role in the human body, we do know that when we become salt-deprived, our body fluids react by changing the body's level of insulin, potassium and excretions. Numerous diseases are associated with salt deprivation.
Should we dismiss all the studies showing a link between excess salt consumption and human health? No, each represents a small piece in the giant jigsaw puzzle that is the enigma of the workings of the human body. Some studies indicate, for example, that salt intake is related to blood pressure and blood pressure is in turn related to various ailments. Some demographic sectors of society -- in particular various African American subsets -- tend to be salt-sensitive, making them subject to salt-related conditions that Caucasians are impervious to.
But none of the many studies into salt has justified the generalized leap that some make in assuming a harmful health effect -- none has ever shown, for example, that salt consumption increases overall death rates, or death rates from cardiovascular diseases, or from heart attack or from any other cause.
On the other hand, studies do point to increased risk of heart attack and higher death rates among some individuals on low-salt diets. As explained in Reducing dietary sodium: the case for caution, an article published earlier this year in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, only one controlled trial of low-salt diets has taken place and it demonstrated worse outcomes. Other studies are split, with most showing no health benefit of reducing dietary salt. Populations that may be especially vulnerable to low-salt diets include the elderly and the pregnant.
