Recently I've been hearing a lot of buzz around how salt is unhealthy. I even hear celebrities talking in interviews about cutting down on salt completely to prevent water retention and puffiness.
But is it really healthy to cut down on salt completely? It's a great salt debate, I must say!
Salt is nothing but sodium chloride — 40% sodium and 60% chloride, both minerals that play an important role in the body. But salt gets a bad name because of the sodium in it. Sodium often gets lumped into the category of "nutritionally no-no," but it's important to understand that sodium plays an important role in your body.
Sodium is required for many important functions in your body, like maintaining nerve function — it helps send messages/signals to and from the brain. Sodium also helps keep your heartbeat steady, and helps hold water in your body so you stay hydrated.
Most importantly, sodium helps you maintain your blood pressure. Omitting or minimising sodium/salt completely from your diet can lead to low blood pressure, which in extreme cases can be dangerous. Salt is also an excellent source of electrolytes, which has been shown to prevent muscle cramping during exercise.
Excess salt intake can be harmful for people with high BP, so people with hypertension should have salt in controlled proportion as advised by their doctor and nutritionist.
- RDA suggests: 2000 mg/day for age under 50 years
- 1500 mg/day for age above 50 years
What type of sodium intake is unhealthy? The sodium you take in from salt-overloaded processed foods — it's even difficult to track how much salt you're actually consuming from these.
Bottom line
Salt is an important part of our daily diet and it serves essential roles in our body. So don't blindly cut it down unless it's advised by your doctor. Don't be afraid of consuming salt — just be mindful of the amount you're consuming.
