6 Amazing Facts About Salt and Your Health

Salt is made up of two elements, sodium and chloride.  It is used used for flavoring and for preserving food. HealthLine

Salt has been used by humans since 6,000 BC!  There is evidence that people living in Romania boiled spring water to extract salts and that salt was harvested at Lake Yunchen in China.  Salt was also used by the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Hittites, Egyptians, and Indians. Wikipedia




Table salt is 40% sodium by weight, so a 1 teaspoon serving (6 grams) has about 2,400 mg of sodium. Wikipedia  

According to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP), you need around 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day to replace whatever you lose in urine and sweat. VeryWellFit

1.  Eating salt may calm us: There is a scientific reason why people eat food to help them relieve stress. Salty snacks actually help your body reduce stress levels.  Research from the University of Cincinnati showed that elevated levels of sodium inhibited stress hormones that would otherwise be activated in stressful situations.  ScienceDaily  

A publication from the University of Haifa confirmed the relationship between salt and stress in humans.  It was found that the body self-regulates to prevent stress and depression by making us crave salt.  Oklahoman

2.  Some people are born with salt cravings:  If your mother suffered frequent vomiting in pregnancy or if you lost significant amounts of sodium as a baby (due to vomiting or diarrhea), there is a good chance that you eat more salt than other people do, even by as much as 50 percent.  Once sodium deficiency is experienced, salt cravings can last a lifetime. WashingtonPost

3.  Natural Salt does not offer any real health advantages:  Salt contains only trace amounts of minerals. As a result, choosing one type of salt over another is unlikely to significantly affect your health. Healthline   Sea and Himalayan salts are considered natural because they are not highly refined like table salt.  Sea salt is made by evaporating seawater and retains trace levels of minerals like magnesium, potassium, calcium and other nutrients. Heart.  

Himalayan salt is harvested from a large salt mine in Pakistan and it's pink color is due to the presence of iron oxide. It also contains trace amounts of calcium, potassium and magnesium.  Although table salt is highly refined with most of the impurities and trace minerals removed the tiny amounts of trace minerals that are removed during processing are easily obtained from other healthy foods.  The main differences between salts are flavor, color, texture and convenience. HealthLine

4.  Your Body Needs Salt to Live:  Salt is good for us.  Sodium is necessary for preventing dehydration, for proper transmission of nerve impulses and for normal functioning of cells.  If we did not eat any sodium, we would die. WashingtonPost  Chloride ions serve as important electrolytes by regulating blood pH and pressure.  Chloride is also a crucial component in the production of stomach acid (HCl) Manoa

5.  Most of the salt in our diet is from processed foods:  It is estimated that 75% of the salt in the US diet comes from processed food.  Only 25% of the intake occurs naturally in foods or is added during cooking or at the table. HealthLine  (see Hidden Salt 4/1/19)

6.  50% of people are salt sensitive:  If a person is salt sensitive and consumes a lot of sodium, their blood pressure will go up. WashingtonPost  Salt sensitivity increases with age and weight gain. Harvard

Magnesium and potassium can help regulate blood pressure.  Increasing your intake of these nutrients through foods like leafy greens and beans may help reduce your blood pressure.   Some studies have also shown that a low-carb diet could help reduce blood pressure. NCBI.