Death by Salt: Part One

The Argument against Salt worth its Weight in Salt: Part One The first recorded use of salt was in China around 6000BC. Salt assumed a huge importance to man and civilization. However, as proof that too much of a good thing is a bad thing, excessive salt intake is killing us. To complicate matters, it is not easy to determine how much salt you consume. Salt is an excellent preserver. It extracts water from meats or fruits leaving them less favourable to the growth of bacteria. The Egyptians used salt to preserve dead bodies but the spread of civilisation was surely assisted by being able to preserve food with salt. Roman soldiers were paid or part paid with salt, known as a salarium, which is where the word salary comes from. Salad too simply means salted as the Romans used salt on green leaves to make them more palatable. In days when life expectancy was not as favourable as it is today and the known causal relationship to various disorders was not established, salt intake was not an issue. However, excessive salt intake is associated with heartburn, osteoporosis, duodenal and gastric ulcers, kidney problems and hypertension or high blood pressure. Salt occurs naturally in blood but with increased salt intake, the levels in blood increase causing the blood to need more water which leads to a higher blood volume the heart is required to pump around the body. High blood pressure is linked to heart disease and stroke. Ingestion of excessive salt is a traditional means of suicide in China. In a similar way to being a NIMBY (not in my back yard), most people do not consider their intake of salt or sodium to be an issue. Some facts about recommended safe levels of intake and what we actually consume are alarming: Recommended intake: <ul> <li>The National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia says an adequate intake of salt, we do need some salt for correct body functioning, would be between 460 and 920 mg per day with an upper level intake of 2300mg per day(mg= milligrams)</li> <li>Other countries vary slightly although the Americans have brought their recommended level down from 2400mg per day to just 1500mg per day but state an absolute upper limit of 5800mg per day, well over the limits for most health advisors. </li> </ul>  What does it mean? <ul> <li>This is where one of the first issues arises. Salt is sodium chloride. The amount of sodium is related to but is not the same as the amount of salt. If a food label provides details of the amount of sodium contained in the product, to get the amount of salt it contains you need to multiply the figure for the sodium by 2.5. </li> <li>Food labels are not universal in providing details .which a number of food agencies want standardized to make sodium or salt levels clear. </li> <li> 2400mg of sodium equates roughly to 6 grams of salt which is a heaped teaspoon of salt per day. That is the recommended upper limit. </li> </ul> So how do we perform? <ul> <li>The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition in the United Kingdom reports the average adult consumes two and a half times the recommended daily allowance. </li> <li> In the United States where the upper limit is twice that of most countries, 95% of men and 75% of woman exceed the upper limit in their daily intake of salt. </li> <li>The average Australian regularly consumes 30% more salt than the recommended upper limit. </li> </ul>  We are not all born equal: <ul> <li>Alarmingly, dietary recommendations are usually expressed in the adult dose. According to www.nutrition.org.uk, the limits are not universal across all age groups. </li> <li> 0 to 6 months recommended daily intake is less than 1 gram of salt per day. This climbs to 1 gram for toddlers aged 7 to 12 months. Then until a child is 6, the amount is 2 grams which then rises to 5 grams in the 7 years to 14 years old bracket. Thereafter adult rates apply. </li> <li>Remember, the recommended adult upper limit is just over one teaspoon per day. Two grams is just over a third of a teaspoon! </li> </ul> “Look I have got it under control” A study across the ditch in New Zealand by A Gilbey and S Fifield found: <ul> <li>67% of people in a study of 226 said they were concerned about the level of salt in their diets. So far so good. </li> <li>58% of the study group did not know of any difference between sodium and salt. </li> <li>98% were unable to determine from the details on the packaging, how much salt the product contained. The Kiwis would like packaging details to express sodium as salt. This is something tangible and would therefore be better able to be monitored they claim. </li> </ul> So how come we have got to a point where we do consume too much salt? The answers to this question are luckily easy to identify. How to combat a high salt intake is not so straightforward. We consume too much salt for the following basic reasons: <ul> <li>We live in a fast food culture. Most fast foods contain high levels of sodium and there are no details on the packaging to identify this. </li> <li>We eat a huge amount of processed foods compared to previous generations. Refrigeration has reduced the reliance on salt or brine to preserve food but significant amounts of salt are still added to almost all off the shelf foodstuffs. </li> <li>One figure quoted is that 75% of our daily intake of salt comes from processed food. The lowest figure is 33m from processed food with 17 coming from milk and meat, the rest from cereals and bread. </li> <li>Salt is directly related to the taste. Tune into any cooking programme and you will find your daily allowance of salt being added to every dish prepared! The Chopping Block show currently showing on Channel Nine actively advises chefs to “season the food” which equates to “throw in the salt.” </li> <li>Salt is a taste or habit in as much as you get used to the taste. You therefore think you need a certain amount of salt to get the correct taste.It is estimated people add as much as 5 grams of salt to a meal at the table after it is served.</li> <li>We think it will affect someone else not ourselves </li> </ul>   What the salt or sodium content is within some of the food we eat and ways to reduce the amount of salt we eat will be discussed in The Argument against Salt Worth its Weight in Salt: Part Two

2008-11-19T19:09:14Z

2008-11-19T19:09:14Z

Water is essential to life but too much and you drown. So too with salt. We consume too much and it is seriously affecting our health.

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