The Great Salt Debate - Can We Get All The Sodium We Need From The Food We Eat, Without Adding Salt?

Lately, a theme in my recent studies have lead me to the topic of salt.

Is it necessary for humans to consume? Or is it not? Is it dangerous? Or simply a non-issue?

Most of use salt on a daily basis. When you eat, you also salt. 

End of story.

But...

Some experts in the past and present swear against it. 

Some swear that if you give it up completely, you will die. 

Some say only some people need to eliminate it. 

To some, it's a non-issue. Eat all the salt your body desires! 

Of course we need salt! They'd say.

It's a topic not even worth questioning, they'd say.

Sodium = life. Without sodium, you're also without a life. 

True.

But...sodium isn't ONLY found in salt, is it?

Most vegetables and fruit contain sodium, with celery being the highest for vegetables, and olives, for fruit.

Meat and fish? 

Yes, there is natural sodium there, too. 

How about whole grains?

Yup. Whole grains do contain some sodium.

So we arrive back at salt. 

How much do we eat? How much do we not eat? 

Do we need it? Do we not? 

Is there some other substance in or benefit to salt other than sodium that we are unaware of? 

Does the quality of salt matter? Or the type? 

Or how about the location from which it was mined?

Salt certainly makes food tasty. 

And it definitely softens the skin. One only has to take a salt bath one time to figure that one out. 

But...when you begin to research the topic, you begin to see that 'science' draws many, many different conclusions.

And like so many other topics, nobody actually seems to have the answers on this one. 

They may think they do. 

But as soon as you see one conclusion drawn, you see conclusions on the other side, as well.

Is the internal salt recommendation of today kind of like the food pyramid recommendation of yesteryear?

Another issue is that most studies you will read about salt are related to blood pressure, and therefore cardiovascular health. 

What about the effect of salt on other parts of the body? On other systems? 

Have we studied it at all?

Did our ancestors salt their food? 

Always? 

And if not always, when did this habit, obsession, or 'necessity' come about? 

Salt preserves food, we know that. 

Did humans always preserve food? 

Isn't it true that if you drink too much salt water, you could go crazy? And even die?

Is the same true for eating too much salty food?

Is preserving food with salt the best way to live, or was it simply a tool of survival during times of food scarcity? One that later became an addiction we simply couldn't shake? 

Is this where eating salt on everything became...'a thing'?

Is salt addictive? 

Are addictions ever good? 

Is it salt that gives us the drive to...overeat? 

Where did we get our current salt standards? How did they come about? 

So many questions surrounding salt. 

So much to study. 

So many questions.

So many opinions. 

So many directions to take.

Below are but a meager introduction to the research on salt. 

There are so many many more out there. 

Keep looking, and you will find lots of weeds on the topic, I assure you.

It's not an easy one to tackle.

But, I think..

It is a topic worth playing with. 

Because it's a big one.

Typically, our most common life routines are the most necessary to observe.

They're also the most missed. They're simply accepted as 'the norm'. And that is that.

As you will see..

The science is simply not settled on this one. 

Not actually even close.

Question everything right? 

I have zero answers on this one, personally. 

But I'll be experimenting on myself, as usual.

That is for sure. 

In the meantime, happy researching to you, my friend.

(The following list is 'just for starters'. It is by no means 'extensive' - make sure to continue searching after reading the studies below). 

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STUDIES & RESOURCES:

(The studies below are nowhere near an exhaustive list. Always continue your own research and read the papers within each paper below.)

1) Salt Need Needs Investigation

2) The History and Politics of Salt

3) Sodium Intake and Health: What Should We Recommend Based on the Current Evidence?

4) Sodium and Health—Concordance And Controversy

5) Facts And Ideas From Anywhere

6) Salt Craving: The Psychobiology Of Pathogenic Sodium Intake

7) Adding Salt To Foods And Hazard Of Premature Mortality

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