Salt Assault

Think you know where sodium is hiding and how it kills? Look again…

We eat nearly twice the sodium we should. We can do that without touching the salt shaker.

WHY THE CONCERN?

It is more than the risk of high Blood Pressure and subsequent heart disease and stroke that prompted mom to hide the shaker from dad 20 years ago. Excessive sodium is now linked to other illness such as Cancer and kidney stones. All we need is a little bit about 200mg a day to keep fluids in balanced (1/12 of a teaspoon = 200mg). 

But all the excess sodium may:

1. WEAKEN OUR BONES : Too much makes the body create calcium, threatening bone density and strength, thus the more we limit sodium the less calcium we excrete
    
2. CAUSE STOMACH CANCER: A report from Japan found that men with the highest salt intakes had double the risk of stomach cancer.
    
3. MESS WITH DNA: Researcher from the National Heart lung and Blood institute found that as they increased salt levels in the laboratory cell’s DNA strands begin to break and cells pair mechanism shut down and when cell concentrations return to normal the cells begin to repair DNA again. Researchers found that the same DNA caused damage in Kidney mice. The next step is to see if these results hold true for human kidney.
    
4. CAUSES KIDNEY STONES: In a 5 year study Italian Researchers found that limiting protein and salt may be more effective in preventing the recurrence of Calcium Oxalate kidney Stone than the more traditional calcium restricted diet.

TO REDUCE SALT INTAKE·         

Use less salt when cooking -- try using a squeeze of lemon or small quantities of herbs and spices as an alternative

• Choose fresh foods where possible
• Choose foods with a lower salt content: food products that say "low sodium" on the package have 140mg of sodium or less per serving, while products marked "very low sodium" have no more than 35 milligrams
• Be leery of certain veggies. One stalk of celery contains 35.2 milligrams of sodium. Other vegetables to watch are: beets, beet greens, carrots, mustard greens, spinach, frozen peas, frozen lima beans, and tomato juice, sauce, paste or puree. The sodium values range from 35 to 155 milligrams for one cup cooked of any above vegetable. If you are a veggie lover who's trying to cut down on sodium, try munching peppers (green, yellow, orange or red), green onions, cauliflower, cabbage or broccoli instead.

ONE FINAL WORD OF WARNING

 Sodium raises Blood Pressure. Reducing intake by just 300mg drops systolic pressure(the first number) by 2 – 4 points and the diastolic by 2 – 4 points. A British study shows triple that reduction and you triple the benefits.

Most salt substitutes contain potassium chloride. Talk to your doctor. Certain blood pressure medications or kidney problems might make salt substitutes a bad choice. And keep in mind that "light salt" is still salt. So, I think you should just simply pass by the salt.

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