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- Each one of us has the equivalent of a cupful of salt (250g) in our
bodies and it is working very hard to keep us alive.
- The sodium in salt is an electrolyte that helps maintain the fluid
balance in your blood cells and transmits electrical impulses between
your brain, your nerves, and your muscles.
- Symptoms of insufficient salt range from muscular cramps to heat exhaustion.
Severe deprivation of salt puts lives at risk.
- As the oldest preservative known to man, salt also plays a vital role
in protecting us from food poisoning. If we reduce the use of salt,
we have to be extremely careful that we aren’t opening the door
to increased risk of disease.
- If you go into hospital and need say a saline drip or kidney dialysis,
salt is an absolutely essential ingredient in keeping you alive.
- A host of research, including the Food Standards Agency’s National
Diet and Nutrition Survey, has shown that there is no significant effect
on the blood pressure of healthy people from eating salt.
- Your kidneys very precisely filter your salt intake - any that is
not essential to your body is excreted.
- Under medical supervision, a low-salt diet may be beneficial for those
already suffering raised blood pressure.
- Scientists internationally do not agree with the need for blanket
advice on salt intake for the population as a whole.
- It would be far better, in our view, to devote resources to identifying
those suffering hypertension and treating them with the highly effective
drugs now available.
- The evidence on the salt and health debate is not conclusive.
- Several large-scale intervention studies have shown that restriction
of sodium in the diet has no effect on diastolic blood pressure and
only a minimal effect on systolic blood pressure.
- Since 1995, 10 studies in the United States have reported on whether
low sodium diets produce health benefits. All 10 indicate that, among
the general population, lower sodium diets don’t produce health
benefits. In fact, not a single study has ever shown improved health
outcomes for broad populations on reduced sodium diets.
- In February 2004, a coalition of six Canadian medical groups rejected
a recommendation for universal salt restriction, choosing instead to
make lifestyle recommendations for reducing blood pressure such as exercising,
eating a balanced diet, and stress management.
- Our view is that salt is being damned without adequate evidence.
- Given the importance of the issue, we fail to understand why the government
is not commissioning the research that is so badly needed.
- In the meantime, we would advocate a much more holistic attack on
the nation’s dietary habits designed to reduce alcohol consumption,
tackle obesity and increase consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables.
- Such factors have been found to have a marked effect on reducing blood
pressure.
- The FSA policy on salt is being pursued without any proper assessment
of the risks blanket population advice could pose to some population
groups, notably to pregnant women and the elderly.
- For a pregnant women, a low-salt diet can cause problems with blood
volume in the unborn child, which in turn can cause a rise in her own
blood pressure.
- In the case of the elderly, cutting salt can be dangerous, especially
in the summer months. Because elderly people tend to drink less and
are less acclimatised to hot weather, salt lost through sweat is not
replaced. Their blood pressure rises, so putting added strain on their
hearts.
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