Salt in food: The dosage makes the difference!

When it comes to healthy eating, the advice to eat less salt almost always comes up. But how dangerous is salt really?

1. Why are the current recommendations on salt consumption controversial?

The German Nutrition Society recommends that people take no more than six grams (or around one teaspoon) of sugar per day. Such suggestions are problematic because they compare someone who weighs 100 kg to someone who weighs only half as much. Both athletes and couch potatoes share this trait. Because it is so difficult to assess one’s own usage of salt, the statistic in this case likewise provides no context. The majority is taken up unnoticed by bread, cheese, sausage, and finished goods, not at all from the shaker. You must gauge how much salt is eliminated in the urine over the course of a 24-hour period if you want to know for sure. This approach was also applied.

2 .Is it possible to consume too little salt?

3. then why is high salt consumption considered problematic at all?

The German Nutrition Society advises consuming no more than six grams, or about one teaspoon, of sugar each day. These theories are invalid because they contrast a 100 kg person with a 50 kg person. Both athletes and couch potatoes share this trait. Due to how difficult it is to assess one’s own salt use, the data in this situation also lacks context. Without the shaker making a contribution, the majority is made up of unnoticeable items like bread, cheese, sausage, and finished goods. Measure the amount of salt that is discharged in the urine over the course of a 24-hour period if you want to be certain. This tactic was also applied.

4 .What else can salt savings achieve?

It has been known for some time that in an estimated 20 percent of people, blood pressure does not fall when they reduce their salt consumption – it rises! Apparently, the body reacts to salt deprivation in a similar way to psychological stress: Stress hormones are released and increase the body’s tendency to inflammation, and blood lipid levels develop unfavorably. Both increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Conversely, a higher salt content in the diet seems to have a stabilizing effect psychologically. Israeli psychologist Micah Leshem is even looking into whether salt intake might be linked to depression. He says, “Animal studies show that sodium can reduce stress and anxiety.” Whether the same is true for humans, however, is as yet unclear.

What’s more, little salt in the diet can actually increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, according to the sensational findings of a study published in 2016, for which Canadian researchers evaluated four studies involving more than 130,000 participants from 49 countries. And according to the data, this is the case if you eat less than 7.5 grams a day. If you only look at how many people died with which salt consumption during the observation period, even less than 10 grams a day had a negative effect. Only at more than 17.5 grams a day did the correlation turn around – and that only in people with elevated blood pressure.

5 .So why are there no new recommendations?

Despite all the research, not everyone is completely convinced, in part because reducing salt intake has been shown to have favorable impacts on blood pressure, for example, when people consume more vegetables instead of convenience foods. However, there is mounting proof that this might be accomplished in a different manner than first thought. For instance, potassium, which is predominantly found in plants, has not received much attention thus far despite playing an important role. The ratio of sodium to potassium in the diet, rather than either factor alone, significantly influences cardiovascular risk, according to research from recent years, says nutritionist Dr. Nicolai Worm of the German University of Prevention and Health Management in Saarbrücken.

That’s why potassium-containing “health salts” and dietary supplements have long been available for purchase. In higher doses, however, such products carry the risk of side effects such as nausea and other gastrointestinal complaints. Eating more fresh vegetables, fruits and nuts, on the other hand, improves the ratio of the two minerals by automatically replacing some of the main sources of sodium (convenience foods, bread, sausage and cheese). And you also save calories along the way.