Salt is a widely occurring mineral, and a natural part of our diet. However, many people nowadays consume far too much of it, and this leads to a range of risks for older people.
The British Heart Foundation says that “Eating too much salt may raise your blood pressure, and having high blood pressure increases your risk of developing coronary heart disease. So to keep your heart healthy it’s important that you don’t eat too much salt each day.
Adults should eat less than 6 grams of salt each day – that’s about one teaspoon. This includes the salt that’s contained within ready-made foods like bread, as well as the salt you add during cooking and at the table.”
It’s easy to see how much salt you sprinkle on your food (and that should really be very little, or none at all) but the salt that’s hidden in foods you buy is harder to know about. A burger with fries, can typically contain 3 grams of salt, ie. half of the recommended daily maximum.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also recommends a maximum of 6 grams of salt (2.3 grams of sodium) a day, and notes that Americans average more than this at 8.5 grams of salt (3.4 grams of sodium).
“Eating too much sodium puts Americans at risk for developing serious medical conditions, like high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.”
Salt never gets a good news story, and here’s one typical of yet more bad news for salt lovers.
In March 2020, there was a report in “Science Translational Medicine” of some research that showed that adults put on a high salt diet had a reduced ability to fight disease.
So the lesson is that if you don’t moderate your salt intake, and remember that 6 grams is a maximum, not a recommended level, then you face extra risks of:
• high blood pressure
• heart disease
• stroke
• reduced immune system
Link to my post on “Blood Pressure”
Link to my post on “Heart Disease”
Link to my post on “Stroke”