Salt, Food and Implications on Health

We all love salt and we cannot help it. The absence of salt becomes apparent immediately with the first bite. You can just tell there’s something missing and if you have a finer palate, you can detect that it’s actually salt that is missing.

Processed food is greatly responsible for the daily recommended salt intake for Americans. In fact, processed foods and restaurant foods account for more than two thirds of the average American’s daily recommended intake. It has also been shown that the highest sodium consumption from processed food was found amongst people between 18 and 29 years of age.

Health Implications of Salt

Salt is comprised of two very essential minerals for our bodies - sodium and chlorine. Every 2.55 grams of salt contains 1 gram of sodium. Salt is an essential part of our diet and all adults must consume 1.6 grams of sodium or about 4 grams of salt per day.  Salt is added to foods to enhance flavors and it surely does a good job at that.

Sodium is required by our bodies for water retention in our kidneys and for maintaining the intracellular osmotic pressure. Chlorine ions are also used for osmotic pressure regulation within body cells. Additionally, sodium ions allow the generation and passing of electrical signals along our nerves and neurons. If it wasn’t for sodium, these processes wouldn’t occur like they do in a healthy individual.

However, we don’t need to worry a lot about sodium and chlorine deficiency any time soon. It is recommended for adults not to exceed intake of 6 grams of salt per day. National diet & nutrition survey showed that the average salt intake is 8.6 grams of salt per day among Americans. This is one of the driving factors for the high prevalence of heart diseases and high blood pressure.

The annual Salt Awareness Week spreads awareness of excess salt intake. Take a quick look at the recommended maximum salt intakes according to age, so you can keep the salt intake of your loved ones within the appropriate range.

Age	Maximum Salt Intake
0-6 months	Less than 1g / day
6-12 months	1g / day
1-3 years	2g / day
4-6 years	3g / day
7-10 years	5g / day
11 years and above	6g / day

 

 

Rock Salt, Sea Salt and Table Salt

People often look for the healthiest of all the salts available. It is important to realize that sea salt, rock salt and table salt all contain about 100% sodium chloride. Therefore, you can’t really place precedence of one salt over the other based on their sodium chloride content. All of these can work as good sodium sources, but may differ in taste. Sea salts and rock salts tend to be a tad bit more expensive than your average table salts. Sea salts are produced by the evaporation of sea water while rock salts are mined as mineral halites.

If you’re looking for prime quality rock salts, whether it is ice melt salt, calcium chloride or magnesium chloride, Rock Salt USA can provide you all of these at an affordable price.