Salt Consumption: Health Strategies

People can make a healthy diet plans for their healthy living. What about the high salt diets which gives a negative effects on health. Eating more vegetables and fresh fruits which is naturally high in potassium and low in sodium. Eating less bread, cheese and processed foods which are high in Sodium and low in potassium.

Recent studies revealed that, people following high salt diets have negative effects on health and incur many changes in daily health. Studeis found that, People on high sodium diet and low potassium diet have the chances of getting the risk of heart attack, leading to death.

There are chances of 20% of higher salt intake than with people following lower sodium intake.

The chances of death are even more deadliest when the ratio of Sodim to potassium relationship is more in the diet. The risk is more of dying due to heart attack when compared to people having a lower ratio of Sodium to potassium.

Sources of risk factors:

People above age 50

People with high Blood pressure

Diabetic patients

African Americans

Effects of more Sodium:

The Kidneys are the most damaged organs affected due to excess of salt consumption.The kidneys have the trouble keeping all the excess sodium which accumulates in the body. The sodium holds the water in the body for dilution. This process increases the fluid surounding the cells and volume of the blood in the blood stream. Sodium is the electrolyte of the body. It maintains the intracellular and extra cellular fluids in the right balance. Cutting the sodium in the diet, will reduce the risk of many disorders.

Studies show that salt restriction causes adverse effects on health:

Increased LDL and Triglycerides: In a massive review, low sodium diets were found to cause an increase in LDL (the "bad" cholesterol) by 4.6% and an increase in triglycerides by 5.9% .

Insulin resistance: In one study, just 7 days on a low sodium diet increased insulin resistance, a leading cause of obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome .

Hyponatremia: In athletes, a low sodium intake can cause hyponatremia, a sodium deficiency which can be very dangerous .

The Importance of Other Dietary Factors

There are many lifestyle factors that can influence blood pressure to an even greater degree than sodium restriction.

Some of them include the minerals magnesium and potassium, which you should be getting if you eat plenty of animals and plants .

Another way is to indulge in a bit of dark chocolate every now and then.

A low-carb diet lowers insulin levels, which causes the kidneys to excrete excess sodium from the body (15, 16). Low-carb diets are an excellent way to reduce blood pressure and improve health .

And last but not least, exercise is a very powerful way to reduce blood pressure and will improve your health in more ways than you can imagine

It seems fairly ridiculous to me to blindly focus on sodium, when there are so many other lifestyle factors that can have a much stronger effect.

How Much Sodium is Optimal?

If your doctor has recommended that you limit sodium for whatever reason, then by all means continue to do so.

However, for people who are generally healthy and want to stay healthy, there doesn't seem to be any reason to be even remotely concerned about moderate intakes of sodium.

Studies actually show that the effects of sodium may follow a J-shaped curve. Too little and too much are both harmful, the sweet spot is somewhere in between .

Given that most people get most of their sodium from processed foods and that studies on sodium restriction don't show any benefit.

Eat real food. Add salt whenever appropriate to make your food taste good.