Is Salt Really Bad For You?
I love watching cooking shows and I make it a point to watch the shows of celebrity chefs when I have the time. I was reading about some celebrity chefs earlier when I ran across a blog post on how Jamie Oliver, one of the most popular celebrity chefs today, has launched a line of pasta sauces that contain too much salt. Apparently, parents and other concerned citizens in the UK are all in an uproar about this. But is salt really bad?
I did some reading on salt and its effects on our health and this is what I found. An entry in the Guardian blog states:
We’re used to the flavour, but our bodies only need about a single gram of salt a day. The UK’s average consumption is nearly ten times that, prompting a government health campaign - though its rather arbitrary 6g limit would bring relatively few benefits to the nation’s blood pressure.
I am assuming that high salt intake increases our blood pressure. I have heard this from lots of people before. Oh, don’t put too much salt in your food. You don’t want to increase your risk of high blood pressure. Then again, I have always liked to use salt liberally and I have not had a single episode of high blood pressure. I would like to think that it is a matter of more than our salt intake. Perhaps we should take a look at the overall picture – having a balanced diet and taking salt in moderation.
Photo courtesy of parl
July 7, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I think salt is not bad but too much salt is really bad. Too much or too little salt in the diet can lead to muscle cramps, dizziness, or even an electrolyte disturbance, which can cause severe, even fatal, neurological problems. Drinking too much water, with insufficient salt intake, puts a person at risk of water intoxication. Salt is even sometimes used as a health aid, such as in treatment of dysautonomia.
July 28, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Researchers have discovered an easy solution for asthma, particularly for those who are prone to attacks while exercising: Cutting back on dietary salt.
The study is the first to show that changing salt intake over just two weeks can ease airway inflammation and better facilitate the flow of oxygen to the bloodstream. According to the study’s author, high-salt diets have a number of physiological effects, such as increased blood pressure and blood volume that can cause pulmonary swelling that, in turn, results in airway obstruction.