SS 140 – Is Salt Really Unhealthy?

 Grant and Heavey tackle the issue of high salt intake. The human body actually needs salt to maintain life but why is salt associated with high blood pressure and other health concerns? How much salt do you really need per day? Listen in to find out!

 

[01:40] A Big Thank You to State and Liberty

 

When Grant and Heavey started this podcast, they really didn’t care about making any dime. They merely intended this to be a place for hanging out and providing real health info. But now they are happy to announce their principal sponsor, State and Liberty, makers of athletic fit clothing. They offer products which Grant and Heavey both truly believe in or they wouldn’t have accepted them as a sponsor otherwise. They both have tried on their clothing and they are highly impressed by how good it looks on them, not to mention how comfortable it feels wearing them.

 

[04:20] Snort Chocolate for Energy

 

Their discussion moves over to talking about this product now being sold in the U.S. market. It’s a chocolate designed to be snorted. It’s a pure cacao/chocolate powder mixed with gingko biloba, taurine, and guarana (that ingredient found in Red Bull). This is designed to be stronger than caffeine so it gives you that extra rush. It’s called Coko Loco and its founder is Nick Anderson, 29 years old.

 

Doctors say there are some dangers to this. There is no long term study on this but they point out that anyone with asthma, COPD  (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) or any other lung disorder may be particularly susceptible to harm when snorting powdered substances.

 

[07:30] Richard Simmons Down Memory Lane

 

So Grant and Heavey take on this question coming from Gene Oxford via Facebook. He asks about what they think about salt intake.

 

You’ve probably heard these concerns about high levels of salt or sodium in the diet having some potential negative effects. Heavey recalls these Richard Simmons workout videos his parents did when he was a kid. The video starts out with a scene showing people eating in a diner. They’re supposed to be unhealthy, eating hamburgers, and dipping french fries in their ketchup. And another thing that stayed in his memory is this big salt shaker going onto the fries. Then Richard Simmons jumps out and brings these people into this workout room and they exercise together. So this notion of high levels of salt causing health problems has persisted through our national food identity for a very long time.

 

[10:33] Where Do We Get Salt From?

 

Salt is sodium chloride. We often hear people talk about salt and sodium in the same sentence. Basically it’s the chemical concerned when we talk about whether salt is bad. There are other sources of sodium in the diet but added salt is the biggest contributor.

 

As Americans, we consume 10 grams of salt per day, which is about two teaspoons and that is equal to 4 grams of sodium. 75% of that comes from processed food intake. So there is very high sodium content in processed food through added salts. On the other had, 20% of the salt intake comes from discretionary use like from salt being used in cooking or salt at the table. Then the rest comes from water treatment and medicine.

 

The research we got back in the pre-agricultural times is that humans were consuming less than one gram of sodium per day. So there is this dramatic change between how much we consume today versus what we once consumed as humans. Is this bad? Not necessarily. But this is one data point to have.

 

[12:37] Is Too Much Salt Bad for You?

 

However, high sodium intake has been blamed for a ton of health issues like high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. Some people have even come out claiming that salt is “the single most harmful substance in the food supply.”

 

Meanwhile, the USDA recommends that we consume less than 2,300 mg per day of sodium. Again, the average American consumes 4,000 mg per day. In addition, the American Heart Association recommends consuming less than 1,500 mg per day.

 

[14:25] Sodium in Rats

 

The basis for these recommendations is research conducted back in the 70’s. In this study, this guy was able to induce high blood pressure in rats by feeding them sodium. The only real issue with the study is that he gave the rats what would be the human equivalent of 500 grams of sodium per day. Not a realistic scenario.

 

[15:05] Salt and Blood Pressure

 

Other research looked at the amount of sodium naturally consumed by many different populations throughout the world. There might be people that just don’t have sodium as part of their diet particularly in the developing world which don’t have these salt-added foods. In this research they found a correlation between blood pressure and salt intake.

 

The problem is that when we control for confounders in this observational research, the connections between a high sodium diet and blood pressure seem to disappear. So the evidence of the recommendations from these mainstream organizations is built on this very shaky set of studies as Heavey describes it.

 

[16:28] Salt Sustains Life

 

Salt is beneficial. You actually have to have salt to maintain life. Heavey mentions this well-known radio competition where they had people drink as much water as they could. The person that won died of hyponatremia because they diluted their salt concentration in their body down to a point where they could no longer sustain life.

 

When you get to this hyponatremia state, the brain begins to swell and this can induce coma. It can cause congestive heart failure and all sorts of bad stuff happen when we don’t have enough salt in our body.

 

[18:05] How Much Salt Do You Need?

 

Research indicates that we need about 500 mg of salt per day as the minimum to sustain our life.

 

[18:55] Benefits of Salt During Training

 

Sodium loading has actually been used prior to exercise to increase fluid retention and reduce strain during training. As a result, it allows you to work out harder, longer, and more effectively.

 

Heavey explains there’s another study which shows that too little salt is unhealthy. It can cause long-term issues and it can cause higher mortality rates with reduced sodium intake over the long term. Whereas too much sodium can also be a problem. Another thing to consider is if you’re exercising and excreting sodium, you’re going to need to replace that.

 

[19:40] Is Salt the Real Culprit Here?

 

A comprehensive study found that two to three teaspoons of salt per day seems to correspond with the lowest risk of death. This is around 4,000 mg per day which is actually what the average intake is among Americans. Interestingly, this has remained constant over the past 50 years even though incidence of high blood pressure and heart disease have been on the rise.

 

Heavey suspects other factors could come into play here, not sodium. We can induce a slight decrease in blood pressure by severely restricting sodium but it seems other minerals play a larger role.

 

For instance, potassium is far more important than sodium for regulating blood pressure. Potassium is a mineral we severely under consume in our diet. This is one area where people struggling with hypertension might want to consider looking into. They might want to talk to their doctor about it and see if consuming more of that might be helpful for them.

 

[21:28] The Stigma of High Salt Intake

 

Grant is curious why people think high salt intake is so bad. Heavey explains that an early research looked at those low sodium populations where they failed to do rigorous analysis on that data to factor out confounders. Nevertheless, these are the two things that got the wheels going in the U.S. system. Once we put regulations in place around food then it enters the perception and the minds of people to think that it’s bad. And based on the research Heavey has read, it really isn’t bad. If you have a healthy set of kidneys, they’re designed to regulate your salt level.

 

[22:35] Where Reduced Salt is Needed

 

There are a few cases though where salt reduction might be warranted. An example would be some cases of hypertensive individuals who have inherited salt sensitivity. They often have dramatic blood pressure changes in response to varied sodium intake. You would usually be aware if you’re in this category. Another instance is if you have kidney disease. If your kidneys are struggling then it may be more of a challenge for them to regulate their internal sodium levels.

 

[23:33] More Water to Counter More Salts

 

Grant raises a valid point, asking Heavey whether you can counterbalance your high salt intake by drinking more water. This is something Heavey can look into a little bit more. Grant adds that if you’re working out a lot and you’re sweating a lot of extra sodium out, you want to have more intake. But if you have too much of an intake, the question is whether you can balance that out. Heavey says the question is how are we pushing sodium out through sweat versus through urine.

 

[24:28] Range of Salt Intake

 

Back to the recommended 4,000 mg of salt based on the mortality data, the researchers provided a range of 3,000 to 7,000. The lowest is more for sedentary individuals whereas the highest is more for super active people that are sweating a lot.

 

[25:25] Grant’s Takeaway

 

Grant gives a recap of what they’ve discussed here saying that on average, Americans are getting 4 grams or 4,000 mg of salt a day. Despite the common thinking that it’s actually where we want to be, unless you have some sort of health issues, keep doing what you’re doing. Grant further says that when we focus on our health concerns, sodium isn’t the place to put our energy into, but in other things like potassium or, say, balancing our macronutrients.

 

[26:05] Heavey’s Takeaway

 

Heavey explains that if you’re doing Paleo diet or focusing on whole foods, it’s very possible that, if you’re not adding salt to your foods, that you may be restricting salt without knowing it. This is something you have to be aware of. Again, if you’re on the low side, this could increase the risk for early mortality.

 

[26:40] Sea Salt and Iodized Salt

 

Grant points out that since we excrete a lot of sodium in our sweat and if you’re very active, you might even need more than 4 grams of salt. Lastly, the type of salt you take in can actually come up a lot too.

 

People take sea salt because they believe it’s healthier. At its very essence, sea salt contains the same chemicals as regular table salt. The difference is the additional trace minerals that get processed out of the table salt we consume. Some people think sea salt may be fancy and they use it for that reason. But other people are consuming it because they believe it’s healthier. And while there’s whole host of different kinds of sea salt available in the market with different levels of various minerals, know that at the end of the day, they’re very similar.

 

Heavey adds that table salt we often consume is iodized. Iodine is something many people are deficient in. So if you’re consuming sea salt on a regular basis, also consider if you have any iodine sources in your diet. Iodine plays a very active role in thyroid health and sea foods are a good source of iodine. Other food sources rich in iodine include cheese, milk, eggs, ice cream, saltwater fish, seaweed, shellfish, yogurt, etc.

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