Salt is an integral part of our daily diet. Not only does it flavor the food, but is also an essential requirement of the body. At the same time, you must watch your salt intake. Read on to find out why you must have salt, but in limits.
Pros:
- Balances The Liquids: Salt maintains the balance of fluids inside and outside the cells.
- Provides Essential Minerals: Essential minerals like sodium chloride, calcium, potassium, magnesium, sulfur, phosphorus, iron, iodine, zinc, manganese, and copper, come from salt.
- Controls Blood Sugar: A low-salt diet maintains systematic insulin resistance in the body and hence keeps the blood-sugar in check.
- Aids Digestion: Salt works like an alkalinizer to maintain the pH levels in the blood. This in turn, promotes better digestion.
- Improves Sleep Quality: An adequate amount of dietary salt suppresses stress hormones and increases the metabolic rate, which improves sleep quality.
- Aids The Functioning Of The Nervous System: The sodium in salt moves in and out of cells, which helps generate and transmit nerve impulses.
Cons:
- Kidney Problems: The function of the kidneys is to eliminate excess salt from the body. High intake of sodium puts immense pressure on this process, which could eventually lead to renal failure.
- Heart Problems & Hypertension: When excess salt is not removed from the body, our blood volume increases, making the heart pump blood harder and exert extra pressure on the arteries. This results in hypertension, which increases the risk of heart disease and strokes.
- Too much of salt could also result in health issues such as depression, irritability, fatigue, muscle cramps, nausea, restlessness and general weakness.
An easy way to ensure that you’re not overdoing the sodium intake, is to avoid having packaged foods, junk food such as chips and pretzels, cured meats, and other fast food that contains a high amount of salt.
Read More:
Avoiding Salt Increases Health Risks
Smoking And High-Salt Diets Linked To Higher Risk Of Rheumatoid Arthritis
