Salt and Health

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Recent publication of Jama (Journal of American Medical Association) : amount of salt recommended apparatus to prevent serious cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, heart attack, brain stroke.

When it comes to “salt "means a salt-based sodium (sodium chloride) necessary for our body and regularly used in cooking to flavor food but also to preserve them.

It is indispensable for the functioning of nerve cells and heart: sodium, brain and heart do not work well. Unfortunately it uses too, facilitating an increase in blood pressure (hypertension) which has very important consequences on the arteries (atherosclerosis), on the heart (hypertensive heart disease and stroke), on the brain (brain stroke).

The risk of cardiovascular disease (heart, brain, arteries) itself increases with the passing of years: reduce the habitual salt intake helps reduce the chance of developing hypertension and its cardiovascular consequences.

The recommendations are to choose how daily sodium limit not to exceed 2.3 g per day.
People who already suffer from high blood pressure should further reduce consumption 1.500 g per day: about a quarter of the dose tolerated to date, which was equivalent to one teaspoon per day.

Reduce your salt intake helps reduce blood pressure by at least 5/10 mm Hg: never more than half a teaspoon per day.

Sources of sodium in foods

Excessive salt intake comes from salt we use to flavor foods and use in the kitchen and the rooms that are hidden in ready meals and preserved.

Let us help with new flavors: It is the habit to consume foods high in salt that creates dependency: We improve the flavor of foods and reducing salt using various flavors;

Warning labels: We choose products that contain less salt, given on the label: if the food they are purchasing contains more than 150 mg of sodium per serving, scambiamolo with one that contains less. The same goes for canned food or pre-cooked and attention to meats;

Less bread, chips, snacks e crackers: even when they seem unsalted, These products contain salt. Some breads contain 230 mg of sodium per serving: It means that with a single slice consume 10% of the salt we should consume in an entire day. Even bread, when available, it pays to check the label;

We enlarge the trip to the supermarket: not dwell at the counter of the convenience foods or delicacies: we start with the trolley from the healthy food area, fruit and vegetables. It would be useful to control the amount of salt, cook at home.