Debunking the Salt Myth

This article lays out what I have suspected all along; Salt is an essential human dietary requirement and reducing intake to the extent that lowers blood pressure is unhealthy.  I will provide the finer points of the article in separate quote blocks, but you should read the whole article here.

Like fat, people tend to think of it as an unnecessary additive - something to be avoided by seeking out processed foods that are "free" of it. But also like fat, salt is an essential component of the human diet - one that has been transformed into unhealthy forms by the food industry.

"The problem with reducing sodium enough to change blood pressure [is that it] has other effects - including increasing insulin resistance, increasing sympathetic nerve activity, and activating the renin-angiotensin system and increasing aldosterone secretion. All bad things for the cardiovascular system."

There are no studies based on a diet that draws its sodium from unrefined salt and from foods containing naturally occurring salt (like zucchini, celery, seaweed, oysters, shrimp, beets, spinach, fish, olives, eggs, red meat, and garbanzo beans). Clearer answers would surely emerge with a study like this.

The differences between refined and unrefined salt are significant. (Make sure you use unrefined sea salt, as other sea salts can be just as processed as ordinary table salt.) Unrefined sea salt contains about 82 percent sodium chloride and the rest is comprised of essential minerals including magnesium and calcium; and trace elements, like iodine, potassium, and selenium. Not coincidentally, they help with maintaining fluid balance and replenishing electrolytes.

But what's fascinating about this most recent study is that even in monitoring those on a largely industrial foods diet, consuming what's considered high levels of salt, the results indicate that even this is better than a low-sodium diet.