What role does salt play in the body?
The salt used in food has, as its main ingredient (97% minimum), sodium chloride, a compound composed of 60% chlorine and 40% sodium. The latter element is vital: constituting all organic fluids (the blood is as salty as sea water), it is involved in numerous chemical reactions in the body. It regulates, with potassium, the movement of water in the body by governing the exchanges between intracellular water and extracellular water through cell walls. It contributes to the transfer of sugars and other nutrients through these walls, plays an important role in the transmission of nerve impulses, participates in muscle contraction, in maintaining acid-base balance, and the list goes on. It is fundamental. Under normal circumstances, the body contains between seventy and one hundred grams, half of which is fixed in bones, cartilage, and tissues. Cells contain 10%, extracellular fluids about 30%, and blood 10%, and these numbers should remain fairly constant unless they cause disorders. Since the body does not synthesize it, daily sodium losses, which occur primarily through the kidneys, must be compensated for by digestive intake. In a normal subject, the amount of sodium eliminated is equivalent to that ingested. This is thanks to the remarkable adaptation capability of renal function, which regulates the blood sodium level: if a subject is subjected to a strict salt-free diet from one day to the next, their sodium excretion decreases exponentially and becomes practically nil by the fifth day. Conversely, after a salt-rich meal, renal elimination increases and restores the sodium balance. Due to this adaptability, one might think that the amount of salt ingested has no effect on the body’s sodium level. This is mistaken, because multiple factors can disrupt it.
Blood pressure: this new dietary habit to adopt according to Dr. Jimmy Mohamed
Last November, on the airwaves of radio RTL, the most famous doctor on TV presented the conclusion of a study presented at the prestigious congress of the American Heart Association; a study on salt consumption: “In this study, we learn that reducing salt consumption for just a week can lower blood pressure.” According to Santé Publique France, 90% of French people exceed the limit recommended by the World Health Organization of 5 g of salt per day, which amounts to just one teaspoon. However, “in France, it is estimated that the average consumption is 8 grams per day. Excessive salt consumption contributes to increasing blood pressure. When you consider that high blood pressure is the most common chronic disease in our country, you understand the importance of reducing salt intake,” the 35-year-old doctor emphasized. Nevertheless, Dr. Jimmy Mohamed has no intention of banning salt shakers from our tables: “This only represents 20% of our salt intake, the rest comes from hidden salt, already present in foods without us having to add anything.”
Which foods should be avoided to lower blood pressure according to Dr. Jimmy Mohamed?
There is 1 g of salt in a single slice of salami, which means that by eating 5, you have 5 g, reaching the maximum recommended intake! You will also find 1 g of salt in a single serving of pizza, 4 slices of bread, or a small handful of snack biscuits! This means that recommendations can quickly be exceeded. And what about cheeses? They do not all have the same salt content. Some cheeses are very salty, such as parmesan, feta, blue cheese, roquefort, or gorgonzola. Others have a lower salt content, such as emmental, comté, goat cheese, or mozzarella, for example. So, focus on a variety of cheeses, because in reality, nothing is forbidden.
What to replace salt with? Jimmy Mohamed’s answer!
Salt adds flavor to dishes, but it can be replaced by spices, for example: curry, paprika, nutmeg, or pepper. It is also possible to add flavor with herbs: chives, dill, thyme, basil, chervil, tarragon, but also garlic, onions, and shallots, or freshly squeezed lemon, which are all very good for health.
What are the harmful effects of excess salt?
Far more frequent, excess salt in the body has the opposite effect by promoting water retention. Initially, the increase in blood volume leads to an elevation of blood pressure, and in a second stage, the volume of interstitial fluid increases, and because the lymphatic vessels are unable to absorb the excess fluid, the water infiltrates the tissues: this is edema. This sets up a vicious circle by compressing the lymphatic vessels, which struggle to fulfill their role. Not to mention that, to balance the sodium levels on both sides of the cell membranes, the water leaves the dehydrated cells.
The physiological need for sodium intake corresponds to the amount necessary to maintain the salinity level of the internal environment. Highly individual, it varies with age (children and seniors need less sodium than adults), activity or environment (excessive sweating caused by intense exercise or intense heat causes a loss of salt and other minerals), and according to physiological or pathological variables.
Caution: do not confuse dietary salt and sodium. A gram of salt contains 394 mg of sodium, which means that one gram of sodium is found in 2.7 g of dietary salt, and the daily maximum intake of 2.5 g of sodium recommended by the WHO is provided by 6.4 g of salt. However, aside from the salt added at the table and in cooking, the average French person ingests about 8 g of salt per day, which corresponds to 3.15 g of sodium. In addition, the salt from the table and cooking must be added: we arrive at a daily total of 9 g to 10 g (or 3.5 g to 3.9 g of sodium).
The effects of sodium deficiency
Sodium deficiency is rare: it is exceptionally due to a lack of dietary intake and almost always to an excess of elimination. Either by urinary route due to renal impairment (or unwise intake of diuretics), digestive route (vomiting, diarrhea), or skin route (prolonged excessive sweating, extensive burns). In these cases, the deficit sets in abruptly, and if not quickly compensated for, has clinical repercussions. Because sodium retains water, its deficiency results in a loss of water contained in the extracellular organic fluids (blood, plasma, and interstitial fluid in which the cells are bathed), and manifests as immense fatigue, cramps, palpitations, and particularly low blood pressure due to reduced blood volume. This extracellular dehydration leads to cell hyperhydration, where water enters to restore the balance of sodium levels on either side of their membrane.
Excessive salt consumption: which populations are most susceptible?
The organic balance of sodium, responsible for maintaining the volume of extracellular fluid, is mainly ensured by the kidneys. Sweat and stools only significantly affect individuals in paraphysiological (physical exertion, ambient heat) or pathological circumstances (diarrhea, vomiting, extensive burns, kidney disease). Because the kidneys tend to adjust sodium excretion according to intake and can eliminate considerable amounts of it, the majority of young adults in good health can cope perfectly well with significant variations in sodium intake. But large segments of the population are hypersensitive to salt. In addition to young children whose kidneys are immature (before one year, a child only needs one gram of salt, between one and three years, they should receive a little less than two grams), those with reduced kidney function, diabetics, apple-shaped obese individuals, alcohol consumers who have insufficient intakes of calcium, potassium, or magnesium, and certain black ethnicities are also hypersensitive to salt. And let’s not forget that stress and inactivity both restrict sodium excretion. In these individuals, excessive salt consumption is indirectly responsible for renal insufficiency or its worsening because it increases the risk of high blood pressure, one of its main causes.
Beware of hidden salts
Sodium is naturally present in meat, fish, seafood, and – in smaller quantities – in vegetables, milk, and even drinking water, but in their raw state, these foods only provide us with 10% of the sodium we ingest. The remaining 90% is provided by dietary salt, the salt we add during cooking and at the table, but especially, the “hidden” salt in processed or artisanally or industrially prepared foods. There is sodium everywhere: in deli meats (100 g of cured ham contains about 3.5 g of salt), in sour candies in the form of sodium citrate, in bread (a 250 g baguette contains over 4 g of salt), toast, cheeses, preserves, biscuits, breakfast cereals, margarine, frozen dishes, preserves, stock cubes, mustard, and so on. Not to mention the appetizer biscuits, chips, peanuts, and olives (100 g of black olives provide between 2 g and 4 g). However, salt is essential, and it is not a question of removing it, except in exceptional cases that fall within the medical domain. It is only necessary to monitor its consumption because the imbalance it creates occurs insidiously. It goes without saying that those who suffer from high blood pressure must be particularly vigilant, but they are already “condemned” to pay attention to fats, alcohol, sugar… In truth, we would all be wise to do the same and, to avoid the risk of high blood pressure, behave like hypertensive patients!
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2024-02-09 18:24:00
