The dangers of salt

[noblehead]

Following on from the article earlier this week which recieved widespread coverage in the media about the dangers of saturated fat in our diets, it seems attention now is focussed on the salt we are consuming, unwittingly by the cunning food manafactures who use salt to enhance the taste of the food.

GMTV were this morning running a article on the dangers of salt in our diet, and on their website there is some good advice about knowing what levels of salt are high or low per 100g of food. Also there is a salt calculator to work out the salt content per serving of food.

http://www.gm.tv/lifestyle/health/25546 ... u-eat.html


Regards

Nigel

 

[Synonym]

Food manufacturers are really only interested in the bottom line on their balance sheet, not your health, so if their profits increase in line with the additives then that is what they increase.

If you can grow your own as much as possible and also make your own meals from scratch that is clearly the best way to eat.

 

[Patch]

It seems that all salt is not equal. It's the processed (surprise, surprise) bleached salt that is causing all the problems. I've gone from not eating any salt to taking Celtic Sea salt with my food. Now, I can't even TOUCH the white, bleached (read: TABLE) salt. It tastes so bitter.

Taking (Celtic/Himalayan Sea) salt along with water is actually healthy.

Avoid table salt, though.

 

[noblehead]

Have to agree with both of you!

Synonym, profit is the name of the game with most food manufacturers, and health does't come a close second!

Patch, Just read a short explanation of Celtic Sea Salt, on first impressions it does sound healthier. I don't like salt, never use it on my food or enjoy foods that are salty to taste, my only exception is marmite, love the stuff but use it sparsely. I think my hatred of salt comes from when I was child at home, my mother would add salt to everything, she was a good cook....just a little generous on the salt.

What I find alarming is salt content of everyday foodstuff. Breakfast cereals, bread, cheese, butter and meats. It would seem that you don't need to add salt to reach your daily 6g limit! :?
Like you Synonym, Itry to restrict my intake of processed foods and make my main meals from scratch, at least you know what you are eating.

Nigel

 

[hanadr]

Ok, attack me now, but isn't salt Sodium chloride whatever its source?
Hana

 

[sugarless sue]

Ok, attack me now, but isn't salt Sodium chloride whatever its source?
Hana

My thoughts exactly. Even if there is added extra minerals or whatever, it is still salt!

 

[noblehead]

Also have to agree with Sue and Hana!

But looking more closely at the article Patch has provided, and the one below which I have just read explains things in more detail. It would appear the refined salt that is added at the table or in food manufacturing is mostly void of the original minerals, losing 82 of the original 84.

http://www.juicing-for-health.com/sea-s ... efits.html

Don't know if there is any substance in both articles, but my original post was refering to the refined salts most commonly used everyday.

Nigel

 

[Patch]

I don't think anyone will disagree that table salt is bad for you. Just taste it! It's not even food...

Only a TINY proportion of the sodium chloride produced in the world is for human consumption. The rest of it is used in industry.

I'm not too keen on eating industrial chemicals, myself.

 

[Patch]

ALSO - what is the first thing they do to you when you are taken into hospital for any number of reasons?

They put you on an intrevenous Saline drip. What is Saline?

WATER WITH SALT IN IT!!!

They're selling us c**p, telling us it's killing us, then saving us with waht they SHOULD be selling us in the first place!!!

Now go out and buy some Celtic Sea Salt.

By the way - it tastes lovely. Much milder than table salt, and actually has a TASTE of it's own, not just that bitterness that you get with table salt. Your diabetic friendly recipes will thank you for it! :wink:

 

[noblehead]

Hi Patch,

Strong words but very true! Your not a rep of celtic sea salt by any chance? been landed with a couple of ton and can't get rid of it! :lol:

Nigel

 

[Patch]

:lol:

It's not cheap, that's for sure...

But I know a man that knows a man... (Nudge-nudge, wink-wink... You ain't seen me, alright?) :wink:

 

[Foggitthedoggit]

Google a bit further and you might well find that its only the sodium we need and in much smaller amounts than most of us would believe.

In this household we have not added salt to food at the table or in cooking since 1978. If you need a flavour enhancer there are plenty of other ways of achieving results. All of the salt I consume comes in bread or fro occasional tinned or frozen foods etc. Not adding salt to food seems to have done any of the family harm - unless of course someone discovers that T2 diabetes is caused by a lack of salt.

We do, however, keep fin de sel from Guerande for those visitors who do have a liking for salt and this gives me an excuse for an annual visit to southern Brittany.

 

[cugila]

From the BPA.
WHY SALT IS BAD.
The amount of salt you eat has a direct effect on your blood pressure.

Salt makes your body hold on to water. If you eat too much salt, the extra water stored in your body raises your blood pressure. So, the more salt you eat, the higher your blood pressure.

The higher your blood pressure, the greater the strain on your heart, arteries, kidneys and brain. This can lead to heart attacks, strokes, dementia and kidney disease.

Also, eating too much salt may mean that blood pressure medicines (such as diuretics) don't work as well as they could.

COMMON MYTHS ABOUT TABLE SALT
Many forms of table salt now market themselves as being "natural" or from a healthy-sounding source. Because of this, many people believe that these forms of salt must be better for them and don't count.

Unfortunately salt is salt. So long as it contains sodium (and all forms of table salt do), then it will raise your blood pressure and could damage your body.

Sea salt, rock salt, garlic salt, natural salt are all salt and contain sodium. Avoid them if you can to lower your blood pressure.

The only form of "table salt" that does not contain sodium is the low-sodium alternatives. These contain potassium instead of sodium and may help to lower blood pressure. However, certain people need to be careful when using this form of salt.

See this link:
http://www.bpassoc.org.uk/microsites/sa ... ternatives


Check out these links from the Blood Pressure Association. The place for good information about Salt !
http://www.bpassoc.org.uk/microsites/sa ... ltseffects

http://www.bpassoc.org.uk/microsites/sa ... atlesssalt

http://www.bpassoc.org.uk/microsites/sa ... t/Shopping

http://www.bpassoc.org.uk/microsites/sa ... lt/Cooking

http://www.bpassoc.org.uk/microsites/sa ... ssiumhelps

Salt IS bad for you. Daibetic's in partuicular, because ot the Heart and Bp risks need to consume as little as possible and certainly no more than the daily recommended 6g. Check out labels carefully, some products already can give you more than 3 - 4g per portion and in some cases even exceed the stated daily maximum ! Give ANY salt products a wide berth. 'Quack Cures' involving Salt and or Water abound on the internet. We advise all members to avoid them !

Caltic Sea Salt contains between 32 and 35% sodium, dependent on the variety.

 

[Patch]

Google a bit further and you might well find that its only the sodium we need and in much smaller amounts than most of us would believe.

Can you send me link to this info? Cheers.

Anyhoo - quite happy to leave this thread now. Doesn't look like I'm going to learn anything new here.

If anyone is interested in my view on this I'd love to discuss it in PM.

 

[hanadr]

Salt is sodium chloride. At least what we call salt is. It's not the scientific meaning of the word. I'd draw the molecule, but I'm not sure I could get it up onto the forum. Sodium in excess is bad, but sodium is essential to nerve impulse transmission and proper kidney function. ( anyone remember the sodium pump from "A"level biology? I think it's also used in Active transport of molecules through the cell membranes. I need to revise that stuff :evil: . In other words, cutting ALL salt out of the diet could kill you. There just isn't any need for loads of it.

The(I think exclusively British) habit of getting the salt shaker and sprinkling over a meal before you've even tasted the food, is unnecessary and insulting to the cook.

Salt in the blood stream ( as in saline drips is needed to maintain the osmotic potential of the blood so that the erythrocytes don't lyse( burst) I've actually done that experiment in a test tube. The concentration of salt in the blood is meant to be 0.9g per litre. that's called "isotonic". Dilute the salt much below that and the erythrocytes( red cells) take in too much water by osmosis and burst. Concentrate the blood significantly, and the erythrocytes shrivel up.

Salt extracted from the sea, contains other minerals, as contaminants( technically :shock: ) and some of these are probably useful (We are almost isotonic with sea water) All normal table salt in this country has iodine added, because lack of iodine causes the thyroid gland to swell up( goitre or Derbyshire neck) and fail to function and it was decided to protect against that, by adding iodine to the salt. Salt from salt mines, started in seas that have long gone.

Salt isn't food, it has no nutritional value and certainly no calories, but it does enhance our taste buds. I used to love bread rolls with large crystals of salt on the top, as sold in my native Bohemia.

 

[phoenix]

I've just been reading the lable on my salt
'Sel de L'Atlantique'
not quite Fleur de Sel de Guerande which supposed to be the best , or 'Sel de Guerande' or even Celtic Sea salt (as far as I can see a US labelling) but nevertheless from the same area, just a much cheaper supermarket version!
The label waxes lyrical
'fruit of the ocean, the wind and the sun, 'le Saunier' sea salt is gathered on the Atlantic coast salt marshes. Rich in magnesium, the subtle ocean taste........'

So whats it actually got in it?
Funnily enough doesn't list sodium chloride!
calcium 160mg/100gm...20% of AJR (RDA)
Magnesium 170mg/100gm....56% of AJR (RDA)

I looked up Celtic sea salt
Light Grey Celtic Sea Salt® contains 33% Sodium, 50.9% Chloride, 1.8% Minerals and Trace Elements
BUT presumably no-one will eat anything like 100gm of salt, the amounts of the minerals actually eaten will be negligible and easily obtained in other foods.
Edit: to add
Hana wrote

The(I think exclusively British) habit of getting the salt shaker and sprinkling over a meal before you've even tasted the food, is unnecessary and insulting to the cook.

This really makes me cross!,
Hana we're agreeing too much :lol:

 

[hanadr]

So 2 minds MUST be right.
As I've said dozens of times, Iwas born Czech and although brought up mostly in England, my parents brought their culture withthem. The salt before tasing drove my Dad bonkers. He spent his last working years as a teacher nd would come home each aternoon and complain about this from school lunch. He still believed that if you felt you needed more salt, you should put a small heap on the side of your plate and take from there.

 

[Patch]

Does anybody know anything about homeopathy (I don't - don't even know if I spelled it right...) But isn't the basis of it that a substance can be diluted in water to such an extent that although not a single molecule of the substance remains in the water, the benefits of the substance are still noticable when you drink the water?

I dunno. Just throwing stuff about. Maybe when Mineral Salt is taken with large amounts of water, the effect of the minerals is evident??? As posted above - there is not that great an amount of minerals in the actual "good" salt itself...

Like I said - just throsing stuff about.

 

[hanadr]

You could separate the minerals out of the salt with the resources of a school science lab. It wouldn't take anything more complicated. Salt itself, in those terms, is a mineral.
The effect on blood cells of different concentrations of salt is easy to demonstrate. It's a lot like the experiment with pieces of potato in different salt concentrations, except that potato cells, being plants and having a cellulose cell wall, don't lyse.
All this is different from homeopathy, where the theory is that the water retains some kind of memory of the molecules it was shaken with.
I haven't seen any explanation of how this should happen, which fits in with my understanding of how molecules function.
Thus I myself think homeopathy works by the placebo effect. Which is, of course, very powerful