Salt and Your Health

Over the past few years, salt has gained a bad reputation for being bad for you and has been linked to conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease and some cancers. However, salt is a naturally occurring compound that is commonly used to season food and in addition to increasing flavour, it is used as a food preservative and can help stop the growth of bacteria [1].

So why is it that society tells us that salt is bad for us and we need to eradicate it from our diets? And could it be detrimental to our health if we did this? Let's find out!

WHAT IS SALT?

Salt is a crystalline compound, containing 2 minerals which produce sodium chloride, occurring as a constituent of seawater, etc. and used for seasoning food, as a preservative and other food uses [2]. Salt is also a compound made up of about 40% sodium and 60% chloride, two minerals that play an important role in health.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF SALT?

The body needs both Salt (or sodium chloride) to regulate and maintain a healthy, functioning body.

The concentrations of sodium are carefully regulated by the body and fluctuations lead to negative side effects [3]. Benefits include:

1) Regulation of Muscle Contractions - Sodium is involved in muscle contractions and losses through sweat or fluid can contribute to muscle cramps in athletes (4).

2) Regulation of Nerve Function and Blood Pressure - It also maintains nerve function and tightly regulates both blood volume and blood pressure [5, 6].

3) Regulation of Fluid Balance - Chloride, is the second most abundant electrolyte in the blood after sodium [7] and electrolytes are atoms found in bodily fluid that carry an electrical charge and are essential to everything from nerve impulses to fluid balance.

WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS WITH SALT?

1) Risk of Stomach Cancer - Increased salt intake has been associated with an increased risk of stomach cancer, though further research is needed to understand this relationship. This may be because it increases the growth of 'Helicobacter pylori', a type of bacteria associated with a higher risk of stomach cancer [8].

2) High Blood Pressure - High blood pressure can cause extra strain on the heart and is one of the risk factors for heart disease. Several large studies have shown that a low-salt diet may help lower blood pressure, especially in those with high blood pressure [9].

3) Triggering of a Variety of Medical Conditions - These include stroke, CHD, diabetes, obesity and kidney disease - most of these stem from having high blood pressure [10]. Osteoporosis is another condition that is more likely as a high salt intake encourages calcium excretion through the urine. Your bones try to make up for it by leaching out calcium. This causes the bones to become weak, increasing the risk for osteoporosis [11].

HOW AND WHY SHOULD THIS AFFECT MY DIET?

NHS Guidelines state that adults should eat no more than 6g of salt a day – that's around 1 teaspoon [12]. As we have seen, there are some benefits of ensuring that we need salt in out diet but overall, the UK Population needs to reduce their intake further. Average salt consumption for adults in England in 2014 was 8g per day. This has decreased from 8.5 grams in 2011, however our average salt consumption remains too high and we need to make a conscious effort to reduce our salt intake.

DOES IT MATTER WHAT TYPE?

Whether you have table, kosher, pink Himalayan salt etc; there are actually no studies comparing the health benefits of different types of salts. However, less processed salts usually do not contain additives [13].

TIPS FOR REDUCING SALT INTAKE [14]

- Check the nutritional information on food labels and try to pick low-salt options and ingredients

- Add less salt when cooking and don't add salt to your food at the table.

- Flavour your food with pepper, herbs, garlic, spices or lemon juice instead.

- Watch out for cooking sauces and seasonings like soy sauce or jerk seasoning -some of these are very high in salt.

- Swap salty snacks such as crisps and salted nuts with fruit and vegetables instead and avoid saltier foods such as bacon, cheese, takeaways, ready meals and other processed foods.

Lots of Love

Ruth xxx