How does salt affect our body and how much salt do we really need?

Dear reader, we present to you our beauty columnist Inessa Tsarkova!

Inessa is an active nutritionist, gastroenterologist, therapist, naturopath and aromatherapist, health coach, integrative medicine doctor with a holistic approach. And now she will share with us her knowledge in the field of both physical and mental health, nutrition and much more.

“Born in water, baptized in fire, and disappeared the moment it hit the water.” What’s that? Did you guess? That’s right, salt.

Nowadays, it is often scolded and accused of many health problems: edema, excess weight, high blood pressure, metabolic disorders… But let’s find out what this substance really is, how it affects our health and life, whether it is necessary or not. Do we need salt? Is the saying “You can live without gold, but you can’t live without salt” true?

Inessa Tsarkova

A little history

No one knows for sure when the first man began to use salt. It is believed that this happened in the distant Neolithic period – more than 6 thousand years ago. Perhaps the ancient people learned by observing animals that liked to periodically lick salty stones.

Salt production has always been very labor-intensive. Initially, our ancestors burned some plants (which contained large quantities) to extract it, and used the ash as a spice and preservative. Representatives of humanity living on the shores of the seas and oceans learned to evaporate it from sea water. Those living in cold climate zones had to freeze it. Later, people began to extract it by extracting it from dried-up seas, rock salt deposits or halite. Once upon a time, only rich people could afford to put salt on the table. For some peoples, salt replaced money. It was given as a valuable gift to the most valuable and important guests. Humanity has always used salt not only as a spice that enhances the taste of various dishes, but also to preserve perishable food. It was valued everywhere for its cleansing, preservative and healing properties. So, in ancient Egypt, it was used to protect the bodies of the pharaohs and as an antiseptic to disinfect water. With its help, they fought against pollution and treated not only people’s bodies with salt solutions, but also household items and premises. In ancient Greece, doctors and healers used salt and its solutions to treat infections and stop the spread of disease. Salt was also widely used in bath health and beauty treatments, not only cleansing and rejuvenating the body, but also protecting the soul from negative energies.

Today, salt continues to be used both as a flavor enhancer and as the best preservative. Knowledgeable people also value it for its ability to help the body detoxify and heal. Able to melt ice and dissolve all impurities, get rid of pathogenic bacteria and all kinds of contaminants, salt miraculously changes people’s lives, cleansing not only on a physical level, but also on an energetic and spiritual level.

Why does our body need salt and how much salt is needed for normal existence?

The chemical formula of salt is NaCl. And its molecules play an important role in the functioning of our body. Therefore, sodium ions located in the intercellular spaces are necessary for the proper functioning of the membranes of our cells. Together with potassium located inside the cell, they maintain the membrane potential at rest. This process is ensured by special protein structures of the membranes – potassium-sodium pumps, which help potassium ions penetrate into the cell (their concentration inside the cell is 30 times higher than outside) and exit with sodium ions ( and this ensures that the sodium concentration outside is 5 times higher than inside). It is this ratio of ions that determines the quality of the functioning of cell membranes and the transmission of various signals and nerve impulses through them. From this it turns out that an excess of sodium ions (directly depends on the amount of salt in our body) and a deficiency of potassium (which is observed in many modern people primarily due to an incorrectly structured diet) cannot but affect human health .

The second important role of sodium is its ability to bind and retain water around it and to control the degree of tissue hydration and vascular filling. When there is excess salt in the body, water is first retained in the bloodstream, increasing the pressure on the walls of the blood vessels, and then (when the salt enters the intercellular spaces) accumulates there and moisturizes the tissue in the required amount, causing excessive edema. All this leads to increased blood pressure and, as a result, to the development of hypertension and obesity. It turns out that salt also makes it harder to break down your own fat, increases the risk of gaining weight and reduces the ability to renew energy when needed.

Another role of salt is to help the formation and function of red blood cells (which bring oxygen and nutrients to our cells). But an excess of it can lead not only to damage to the vascular wall, but also to damage (as a “patch”) the cholesterol plaque that subsequently develops at the site of inflammation, destroying the membrane. This can lead to the development of a terrible disease – vascular atherosclerosis (the main cause of all strokes and heart attacks).

NaCl is also used by the body to produce gastric juice and is therefore necessary for digestion. Salt activates the enzymes in the oral cavity, as a result of which complex carbohydrates are better digested.

However, salty foods can develop a dependency and force a person to eat more and more.

The lack of sodium chloride molecules can affect skin turgor, cause muscle spasms and lead to dizziness and fatigue in our nervous system. But in the modern world, this can be observed extremely rarely, because we often consume excessive amounts of salt, often exceeding the normal value of sodium chloride in the body.

Why is consuming too much salt harmful and how much salt is necessary?

The fact is that the kidneys are physically unable to remove more than 2 g of salt per day. This amount is naturally found in raw vegetables and herbs, as well as in other natural products (for example, 100 g of unsalted meat already contains 3-4 g of NaCl). When you sweat, some of the salt can come out through your skin. Therefore, the physiological salt norm recommended by health experts is 1.25-2.52 g per day (or 0.5-1 g of sodium). The WHO norm is slightly higher – up to 5 g per day. While modern people exceed this permissible norm by 5-6 times or more (according to Rospotrebnadzor, Russians consume an average of 12 g or more of salt per day). When consumed excessively, excess salt is transported to the tissues, where it accumulates. Water flows along the concentration gradient in the intercellular spaces, causing swelling in the tissues and thickening of the blood in the bloodstream. Thick and viscous blood, which has difficulty “squeezing” out of the flooded tissues, forces the cardiovascular system to increase pressure, overstraining the heart, causing it to beat faster and sometimes not quite rhythmically. That is why lovers of salty foods sooner or later develop heart problems, arrhythmias and chronic high blood pressure. Regular excessive salt consumption leads to internal edema, weight gain and damage to blood vessels, coating their walls with cholesterol plaques, and the lumen of already spasmodic vessels narrows even more. Unfortunately, people often do not even realize how quickly with every bite of “tasty salty food” they are approaching vascular accidents, threatening with stroke and premature death.

Moreover, it turns out that even without the use of a salt shaker, food products contain a large amount of “hidden salt”, and both the food industry and public catering are happy to add it. Thus, the added salt content is only 10 to 20%, while the hidden salt content reaches 90%. Even seemingly harmless products such as bread, cookies, dairy products or breakfast cereals, pizza or ravioli contain a lot of salt, especially when fried in soup or cooked with sauce as a side dish, with the addition of mayonnaise or ketchup. the amount is the total amount obtained from all products.

Foods containing excessive amounts of hidden salt

Friends, do not forget the following foods and eliminate them from your daily diet as much as possible.

Canned meat, fish, vegetable snacks, olives.

Pickles and marinades (e.g. pickles, sauerkraut, seaweed, etc.) However, it is worth noting that fermented foods are very healthy and there are excellent recipes for preparing them without using salt (e.g. sauerkraut).

Snacks (e.g. crackers, chips, salted nuts, salted fish or squid).

Processed meats (sausages, bacon, sausages, ham).

Smoked and salted meat and fish.

Industrial sauces (e.g. mayonnaise, ketchup, sweet sauces).

Seasonings prepared with bouillon cubes, salt and flavor enhancers.

Cheeses (especially hard ones).

5 main rules that will help avoid excess salt in the body and the development of health problems

Skip processed foods, fast foods, breakfast cereals, and salty snacks, and try to eat healthy, home-cooked meals made from whole foods.

Do not add salt to food while cooking.

Always taste first and add salt if needed.

Try replacing salt with lemon juice (the brain perceives salty and sour sensations almost equally).

Replace regular refined salt (and even “iodized salt”), which contains 99.9% NaCl, with natural unrefined salt (for example, evaporated salt from the Altai lakes) with a grayish tint, which contains many other valuable minerals (such as magnesium, potassium, calcium, iodine, zinc, selenium) or ground dry seaweed. For example, in the thallus of seaweed, which can be purchased from reliable producers in pharmacies or markets. It contains many vitamins, antioxidants and valuable fiber.

Salt, a gift of nature, has always served the benefit of people, being seen as a symbol of purity and balance, loyal friendship and sincerity, abundance and prosperity. As the famous Soviet singer and teacher Valentina Zakharova said: “A pound of salt is a generally accepted measure of human relations.”

In Christianity, salt represents the transforming power of Christ and the Holy Spirit, protects against evil spirits and brings happiness and harmony to the house. In Russia, there was even such a tradition: people wrapped it in a scarf and carried salt with them everywhere, carefully storing it and not letting it wake up. With the help of salt, space and objects were cleaned, including the energy level. Thursday salt was prepared once a year on Holy Thursday, shortly before Easter, and was found in almost every family; it was a powerful amulet against evil spirits, helped to protect and heal both the body and the soul, remove spells, damage and evil eyes, and clean the energy field in the house.

Salt has always had a special meaning and was highly valued in other world religions, personifying not only purification and protection, but also restraint and discipline, resurrection and transformation. So, in Buddhism, salt personifies transformative energy, helping to escape from the eternal circle of samsara (a series of incarnations and earthly suffering), and in Hinduism – the divine power of the main god Vishnu, who keeps this world in harmony and balance.

Dear reader, when you want to add salt to your food, take a crystal of salt in your hand with respect and gratitude and remember its magnificent life-giving power. And despite the amazing properties of this natural mineral, remembering its importance for our health, we should not forget the strong harmful effect of salt if we treat it irrationally and unconsciously.