You don’t find the taste delightful when you order a meal. You complain. The chef or the cook adds extra salt. You find it somewhat better and leave. But the situation worsens when you are a student and people at mess continue with the same behavior. Down the line, you realize you are visiting your physician more often than usual and start wondering what could’ve gone wrong.
For starters, eating too much salt can make your arteries stiff, mess with your kidneys, thicken your heart’s walls, cause inflammation in your skin, affect your brain’s blood flow, and weaken your bones.
Let’s see how.
The endothelium is the inner lining of the arteries(which carries blood from the heart to everywhere). Now, an increased level of dietary salt increases reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are harmful and can damage cells. NO(nitric oxide) helps arteries relax, but ROS reduces NO availability, making arteries stiffer. Something similar happens in the case of the brain; with less ability of brain blood vessels to dilate properly, the chances of having a stroke and Alzheimer’s increase.
Then, there is another system in the body (RAAS) that normally helps control blood pressure by adjusting how much salt and water your kidneys retain. And eating a lot of salt can make it harder for the kidneys to get rid of the extra amount, leading to problems with fluid balance. To add to the situation, the aldosterone hormone also helps regulate sodium and water balance. And when it doesn’t get suppressed due to high salt intake, it can increase heart mass. This also influences the watery fat that you hate.
Lastly, too much salt can cause your body to lose more calcium in urine, which might weaken your bones and increase the risk of osteoporosis.
What’s next?
WHO advises adults to use no more than 5 grams of salt daily—about a teaspoon, and in the case of children, the limit is just 2 grams. Interestingly, if everyone reduced their salt intake by just 15%, it would be like the Avengers saving millions. This small change could prevent 8.5 million premature deaths in 10 years, especially in low- and middle-income countries, and save costs in high-income nations. So, maybe next time, when you are checking ‘Nutrition label’, while buying packaged food look for sodium content as well.
P.S. In 1807, Humphry Davy discovered the element sodium (Na), but history dates back to more than 4500 years ago; in China, it was clear that elevated levels of dietary salt hardened the pulse.
References-
1. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41440-022-00888-2
2. https://karger.com/ajn/article-abstract/14/4-6/426/327333/A-History-of-Salt?redirectedFrom=fulltext
3. https://www.mp.pl/paim/issue/article/16715/
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7309298/
grewal 