For many years there have been endless debates about the benefits and dangers of salt, and the end is not in sight. The truth, as is often the case, is somewhere in the middle: salt is a trace element necessary for the body, but its excessive consumption is really detrimental to health.
Salt is one of the most important trace elements and a necessary seasoning, without which food seems bland due to the physiological characteristics of a person. The daily requirement of an adult for salt is 200 mg, it is contained in certain quantities in almost all products, including fruits. Meanwhile, the average Russian consumes 3,300 mg per day, with an allowable maximum of 1,500 mg, and such abuse leads to extremely negative consequences.
Most of the salt is consumed not with chips and crackers - although there is plenty of it in fast food - but with cooked food, groceries, pickles and marinades. The more salt you consume, the harder the kidneys work to excrete it. At a certain stage, their functioning weakens, salt accumulates in the body, and the heart begins to beat faster, blood pressure rises. Thus, salt abuse can result in a variety of heart and kidney diseases in the long term. Intraocular pressure may also increase, and cataracts may develop. In addition, salt retains water in the body, which can lead to swelling.
Some of the consequences of uncontrolled salt consumption are not so obvious. According to the World Health Organization, excess salt can be one of the factors in the formation of stomach cancer and osteoporosis - not counting the aforementioned diseases. It also aggravates asthma symptoms and is dangerous for diabetics.
In order to normalize the daily salt intake, one should, first of all, give up the excessive consumption of pickles and fast food, tidy up the diet by introducing as many greens, vegetables and fruits as possible, and study new recipes. So, steamed fish does not require salting at all. It can also be helpful to diversify your seasoning mix with all sorts of spices, so you can reduce the amount of salt you need to add flavor to your food.
