In daily life, salt is the most commonly used seasoning when we cook food. It is said that salt is the first of all flavors. In normal life, we eat salt every day. But we often hear that eating too much salt is bad for your health, and everyone should eat less salt. But nothing is absolute. Eating too much salt is indeed harmful to the body, but eating less salt is also not good for health.
Everything varies from person to person, according to each person’s physical condition, some people just can’t eat less Salt, but should add more salt. So, what effect does ingesting salt have on our body? If we eat too much or eat too little, what effect will it have on the human body? What kind of people should eat less salt and what kind of people can’t eat less? Salt?
What is the role and benefit of eating salt?
Balance of osmotic pressure: Salt is an important part of our body fluids and is indispensable. Because of the existence of salt, it can affect the balance of water in the human body and ensure the balance of osmotic pressure in the human body.
Anti-inflammatory and sterilizing: Salt itself has no anti-inflammatory effect, but when salt is mixed with water, salt water has a certain anti-inflammatory and sterilizing effect, because the osmotic pressure of salt water is relatively high.
Enhancing Appetite: Untasteless dishes will naturally not make people want to eat. But adding an appropriate amount of salt is completely different, because salt itself can stimulate the secretion of saliva in the human body, thereby increasing our appetite, and thus enhancing the effect of food digestion.
Maintain the acid-base balance of the human body: The chloride ions in the salt can be replaced with the bicarbonate ions in the red blood cells to ensure the acid-base balance of the human body.
Prevention of iodine deficiency: At present, the edible salt in the world is basically added with iodine. Eating salt in moderation is also an effective means to prevent iodine deficiency.
It’s not good to eat too much salt, and it’s not good to eat too little salt
It’s bad to eat too much salt Cause a variety of diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes and other chronic diseases, gastric cancer, obesity, osteoporosis and various kidney diseases.
Eating too little salt can lead to electrolyte deficiency, cerebral edema, hypotension, muscle fatigue, and symptoms of hyponatremia.
What kind of people should eat less salt?
People with high blood pressure: People with high blood pressure should reduce their salt intake. Excessive intake of salt by the human body will cause the osmotic pressure in the blood vessels of the hypertensive people to gradually increase. Various studies have shown that the content of sodium in the human body is related to blood pressure. Excessive intake of sodium will lead to increased blood pressure, while Table salt contains sodium, so people with high blood pressure should eat less salt as much as possible.
People with kidney disease: People with kidney disease should reduce their salt intake. Excessive intake of salt will cause the sodium content in the human body to exceed the standard and affect the balance of the human body. It is necessary to excrete the excessive sodium from the body. The organ responsible for expelling sodium from the body is the kidneys, so eating too much salt is equivalent to increasing the workload of the kidneys in disguise. People who already have kidney disease should not eat more salt, which will increase the burden on the kidneys for no reason, and the kidney disease will be more serious.
People with osteoporosis: People with osteoporosis should reduce their salt intake. Because eating too much salt will lead to the loss of calcium, it is easy to reduce the bone density of the human body, erode the bone and aggravate osteoporosis, thereby increasing the risk of fractures, so we must eat less salt.
What kind of people are advised not to eat less salt?
First, engage in heavy manual labor
Heavy physical labor will cause the human body to sweat a lot. Excessive sweating will not only take away a lot of water from the human body, but also take away a lot of minerals from the human body, including chlorinated Sodium is also known as salt. To maintain the normal living standard of the human body, it also needs enough salt. If the body loses too much salt, it will cause a variety of diseases. Therefore, it is not recommended for such people to eat less salt. Especially after a lot of sweating from labor, it is necessary to replenish the body’s water and salt in time, and you can drink some light salt water, so as to ensure the health of the body. Athletes or fitness people are also recommended to supplement salt in time after sweating during strenuous exercise.
Second, patients with hyponatremia
As the name suggests, hyponatremia is a lack of sodium in the human body, and hyponatremia can cause symptoms such as restlessness, coma, nausea, and vomiting. , is a health killer. The main component of salt is sodium chloride, which can help the human body to replenish the missing sodium in time and help treat hyponatremia. Therefore, it is recommended that patients with hyponatremia should not eat less salt, and should replenish salt in time to avoid causing damage to the body. more damage.
You should pay attention to a moderate amount of everything, and the same is true of eating salt. The more extreme idea that we should eat less salt is not advisable. We must treat the intake of salt dialectically in order to ensure the healthy development of the human body.
Editor: Wang Xiaying