The Truth About Salt [New Research Says Increasing Salt Decreases Heart Attacks]

“Keep your family goiter free! Or else Norman Rockwell will not want to paint adver-pictures of your family!”

Pop quiz time! Salt: life-giving nutrient or heart attack in a ceramic shaker? If you grew up like I did then you probably think of salt as a no-no for a healthy lifestyle but research is now saying that not only does salt not cause heart attacks like we’ve all been told for the past 20 years, but that slashing salt intake increases incidence of cardiovascular death. Surprised? You shouldn’t be – this “new” research that’s been making headlines over the past few weeks is based on studies over 20 years old. And yet one of the first things people generally do when they’re trying to get healthy is cut back on sodium. Whole diet programs are based almost solely around this one principle.

Me being me, I took this advice to heart and removed almost all salt from diet several years ago. I never added even a smidgen of salt to foods and if a recipe called for it I just omitted it (yet another reason my cookies turned out like turds?). My self righteousness knew no bounds as I handed the salt shaker back to the waiter telling him we wouldn’t be needing that murderous mineral at our table.

So imagine my surprise when during my Great Over-Exercising Debacle Where I Suppressed My Thyroid, Gained Ten Pounds and Lost My Freaking Mind one of the first things my doctor told me to do was to eat more salt. Her recommendation was based on the fact I needed more iodine – a nutrient commonly added to table salt – to support my floundering thyroid but when I told her I’d cut all salt out of my diet years before, her jaw dropped. “Why would you do that?” she gasped. “You need salt!”

I should have known that salt wasn’t all evil when my infant son used to get super excited to see me after a hard workout – so he could lick the salty sweat off my shoulder and neck. Yeah, my 10-lb baby boy that I pushed out my nethers and therefore owes me big time for the rest of my life, only loved me as a salt lick.  Babies may shoot poop up their backs but they’re not dumb, especially when it comes to feeding. Humans need some salt.

But like anything in nature, salt doesn’t operate in a vacuum. (When I was a kid I thought the adage was “Nature whores a vacuum” which if you’ve ever seen a Kirby Vacuum sales presentation, is kinda true.) Sodium needs to be balanced with potassium for our bodies to function properly on a cellular level. This is the idea behind those “electrolyte replacement” drinks sweaty exercisers are pushed to drink and all the banana-pimping at races (wow, could I have made that sound any worse?). Note: while bananas are a good source of potassium they’re not dietary rockstars in that nutrient. Apricots, tomato puree, raisins and figs take top honors with apricots containing more than 3 times the amount of potassium.

And yet, research still shows that salt can increase blood pressure and that some people are genetically sensitive to the white stuff. In addition, conventional medical wisdom still advises all adults to cut sodium intake. Plus salt makes you bloat and that’s the last thing we girls need. Even more confusing are all the different types of salt with their different medicinal properties and how table salt is processed into impotency. So which is it? And if we do eat salt, what kind? And how much? And isn’t it kinda gross and unhygienic to let your baby lick you after a workout?

For myself I have decided that salt has long been considered essential for humans and I’m going to eat it and not worry about limiting it in my foods. I also make sure to eat plenty of potassium as well. My only caveat is that I try to only eat salt I add myself rather than buying sodium laden processed foods. I trust my Celtic sea salt. I don’t trust that can of soup giving me the evil eye on aisle 13.

What’s your opinion on salt? Were you as surprised by these findings as I was? Anyone want to educate me on which type of salt I should be using??

64 Comments

  1. For cooking (not baking) I use Kosher Salt, amazing what a difference it makes on steaks and chicken.

    On a side note…. I was searching for new vitamins today and came across “Hyland’s Bioplasma Tablets”, which contain “12 essential cell salts”. Totally confused me, as I was brought up with the salt-is-evil mantra as well. But maybe I slept though that day in biology class 😉

  2. I brought back like 2 kg of sea salt from Italy and Croatia…it’s my precious European adventure salt. I use it with my pumpkin seed oil (look it up, Styria in Austria, it’s like one of their signature products).

    Otherwise, I use Kosher salt, though I also have pink Himalayan salt, and a grey one from France. I like foreign things, and salt (if you buy it in like 50g packages), is pretty affordable (esp. since the locally owned grocery store stocks the salts in bulk, so I can literally buy 1 tbsp). They all have different flavours, that match with different foods. Kosher salt is the “cook’s standard” from what I understand- the flakes are a bit larger, so you can use less and taste more salt or something?

    I asked for this book to add to my cookbook collection at Christmas: http://www.amazon.com/Salted-Manifesto-Essential-Mineral-Recipes/dp/1580082629
    For real. A book. On salt.

    I agree with your method- I only eat salt that I’ve added. It goes along with avoiding processed foods generally. Plus, then I can pick the type of salt I want. I’m not surprised by the findings. Really, my goal in all things is moderation, because then if it’s bad, then at least I didn’t have a ton of it, and then if it’s good, at least I got a little bit. Right?

  3. I also use celtic sea salt, but mine isn’t iodized. I regularly eat seaweed such as kelp and dulse for iodine, though now I’m getting concerned about contamination from pacific source seaweeds. 🙁

  4. I, like you, removed all salt from my diet years ago. because that was the healthy thing to do. However my doctor advised me about a month or so ago that I was salt deficient and suggested I add it back in. I bought some of the pink Himalaya salt a while ago but haven’t yet added it to anything. I don’t really like the taste of any salt, and if I eat processed food that’s all I can taste.. I’m really going to have to bite the bullet and add it anyway I think 🙁

    Because I eat a fair bit of potassium I find that I have high potassium if I’m not careful, maybe this is why.

    • Yes, I lost the taste for salt as well and even now just a teeny bit is enough for me. It’s funny how when you don’t eat how sickly salty most packaged foods taste…

      • Being sensitive to saltiness is *usually* a sign that you’re not deficient in the minerals it contains. Or maybe your subconscious brain isn’t as convinced as your conscious brain that salt is okay to eat, and is making it taste horrible to stop you. All that aside, the processed-to-death stuff in packaged foods (often in concert with MSG, which ratchets up the salt perception) IS saltiness personified, because there’s nothing else left in it. None of that flavour subtlety M. Lindsay is enjoying! So the manufacturers have to put more in to overwhelm your mineral-sensitive body into crying uncle even though it hasn’t received the whole spectrum it was looking for when seeking out saltiness in the first place.

  5. I agree that the dangers of salt seem to be hidden salt in processed ready meals, rather than obvious salt. Packets of crisps despite tasting salty tend to have far less salt than ready meals – was surprised by that myself.

    The problem is salt tends to improve the flavour of things, so I never miss it out when I’m cooking a meal – although I dont tend to add it to veg or pasta. I realised that the reason my home made soup doesn’t taste as good as Fresh Covent Garden soup is that they have ridiculous amounts of salt in.

    And if you make bread – I think salt has some kind of chemical reaction so you can’t miss it out there?

    I use either regular salt, or rock salt, not very sophisticated I’m afraid.

    And my cat likes to lick my sweaty hands sometimes – she prefers them to clean hands. Yuk!

    • Yes I think salt is necessary for baking – at least my baked goods seem to turn out better now that I use it;)

  6. I’m undecided about the whole salt/sodium issue. On one hand, I always cringe when I see someone in a restaurant instantly grabbing the salt shaker once their (probably already salty) dish arrives. On the other hand, I love soy sauce and used to drown my sushi in it.
    One of my friends once stopped eating salt completely. After a few weeks, he collapsed!
    Today, I find all that low-sodium craze really annoying, just like low-fat, low-carb, etc. In my opinion, moderation is key, and avoiding processed food.

  7. My body and salt do not get along. I have always been this way; super duper sodium sensitive. Take me out to a place like PF Chang’s and watch me retain water for not a day or two; like a week. My body doesnt process it. No matter how much water I drink, every trick and tip, yes, I’ve tried. My body just doesn’t like salt. Good thing it does just fine with sugar 🙂

    • Ooh yes, I bloat up like a water balloon just from being in the same room as soy sauce. And it takes days to go away. It’s probably why I don’t eat Chinese food very much (that and all the deep frying wreaks havoc with my IBS!)

    • Averie, more than likely what you were reacting to wasn’t table salt but rather MSG (mono sodium glutamate)
      MSG is an excitotoxin that makes you hungry, increases your insulin sensitivity, kills brain cells, and for some people causes water retention.
      I too went on a low sodium diet and used light salt, which seemed to make me feel better.
      But now I understand that it wasn’t the reduction of sodium but the increase of potassium that made me feel better.
      About the same time I went on a fat free diet, which was one of the worst mistakes I ever made!
      Now I eat lots of salt (sea salt from what I add) and lots of fat (natural fat from real butter and other animal sources) and I am stronger and healthier than I was 10 years ago.
      I have lower blood pressure than my kids (5 youngest 23).

  8. We use regular salt or rock salt. I just make sure to use it in moderation.

    I always wonder why my 2 year old is constantly trying to lick me after a work out. Perhaps I’m limiting her salt intake too much. I hardly let her eat anything processed and I usually feed herr unsalted food. Oops.

  9. you KNOW I saw this and immediately sat down to a snack of beef jerky and pistachios salted and in the shell then scrambled some eggs and doused em with soy sauce.

    kidding.

    maybe.

    ok
    NOT 🙂

  10. I’ve never been much of a salt eater (not on vegies, nuts, many other foods my friends would automatically have it with). But I was having terrible trouble with foot cramps at night (aaargh, hurts like a b*tch) until a nutritionist suggested I was likely salt-deficient as I don’t eat much processed food. Now I add either some pink Himalayan salt or a 50/50 potassium/sodium salt mix to more of my savoury foods (particularly meat and eggs – I love them so much better well salted). Definite improvement both in the cramping and the tasting departments.

    • Good point about the cramping! I’d heard that but never experienced. I’ve got to find me some of that pink salt everyone keeps mentioning!

  11. I’ve always been a salt fanatic and had normal blood pressure. When I recently noticed a substantial spike in my blood pressure after a couple of doctor’s appointments, I initially thought salt was to blame. However, at the time, I had decided to cut out dairy. After a little googling, I discovered calcium actually has a more prominent role in regulating blood pressure than sodium. I started eating dairy again and what do you know, my blood pressure was back to normal. For me that was a green light to continue my love affair with salt. ; )

  12. Great post! I have been watching salt intake for a few years and recently found myself super thirsty all the time, no matter how much water i drink. I’m experimenting with adding salt to foods. I’m going to get some pink Himalayan salt as mentioned above. thanks crew!

  13. Wow, very interesting! I think like so many things, yes we need salt in our diets, so adding some to what you cook with whole foods is fine. It is the processed foods that are the problem. We need salt to live, however our nation has taken it to another extreme and by the time people end up with high cholesteral or heart problems they have gone over the tipping point and need to restrict in the other direction. I have a feeling most of these “studies” are not geared towards people like us!

  14. AHHHHH, why must science contradict itself all the time?!?!? Why can’t we just pick a study, and go with it? (hehehe…my scientist colleagues would kill me)

    My take on salt goes to the moderation thing. I don’t sweat it. I can tell when my body needs it, and I’ll use it more. I make most of my food, and never get packeaged stuff, so I know I’m not getting too much. But, I eat a lot of kraut and pickled foods, which have a lot. I just got this “No Salt” salt shaker to try out. Its good. I recommend it if you are sensitive or don’t want to use a ton of regular salt. But I never bought into the fancy salt hype, or the sea salt hype. Morton’s iodized, baby.

  15. I’m very careful with salt. Never add any and dilute high salt products.

    My favorite vacuum slogan was “Nothing sucks like Electrolux!”

  16. I use Himalayan Pink salt. (It sounds exotic, but I get it relatively cheaply at Trader Joe’s, and use it sparingly. ‘Cause I’m cheap that way.) I don’t often add salt to food, and try to stay away from the processed salt, but I don’t fear it TOO much, either.
    (I did, however, stay away from the movie “Salt.” THAT would’ve sent my heart racing! I need a nice, mellow film. With a happy ending. Preferably based on a Jane Austen book.)

  17. I’ve always thought that salt in moderation was okay as some salt is necessary. I do think the thing to watch out for is salt in processed foods. My husband has high blood pressure so we always try to keep an eye on the sodium counts.

  18. I have always loved me some salt on potatoes eggs, and it’s totally necessary on a good steak…but I am also trying to stay away from salt hidden in canned and processed foods. The last time I made soup, I used no salt added chicken stock, and added my own fresh ground sea salt as needed for flavor. The right amount can make or break a good soup. So I’m thinking(hoping) that I don’t put in as much as would have been there….

    can’t do soy sauce on my sushi, too salty! then I can’t taste the delicate fish flavors…

    I did not know that apricots and raisins were better sources of potassium than bananas…are dried apricots OK? they are usually easier to get. and like candy!!

    • I don’t think dehydrating a food changes the nutrient profile much (it just takes out teh water, right?) so I’d guess that dried would be just as good!

  19. Sodium and potassium are importent in the basic chemical reactions that make your body run…too little and too much are both bad. I try and keep salt reasonable – it’s in a lot of things, so I add it to taste, but I find the less I use, the less I need. ..but without a little sometimes things taste flat. My family are salt fiends, so it took a while to cut down. We cook with less salt now, and I try and stick to sea salt. I am learning t o know when I need a bit if I’ve been active- I crave salty things as snacks, so I’ll never be rid of it 🙂

  20. I think that’s a great compromise! I feel the same way, and I read somewhere (I think it was from the Weston Price Foundation) that there’s nothing wrong with the salt in our kitchens and on our tables. But the salt in potato chips and frozen meals and, like you said, canned soups, that can lead to high blood pressure.

  21. Haha, my dogs use me as a salt-lick.

    I’m not really surprised at the findings because I’m not surprised at any of this stuff anymore. The moral of the story is to just eat real food. nature doesn’t make junk food.

  22. I am a salt FIEND. Not intentionally, I just have really strong cravings for it. My personal hypothesis is that it’s related to 1) my low blood pressure and/or 2) an overexercise habit that leaves me constantly trying to rehydrate and rebalance electrolytes. My grandmother always gripes at me for adding it to food before tasting the unsalted version. I’ve tried the salt substitutes in the past, but those don’t cut it.

    When I’m doing fieldwork in the tropics, condiments are almost always unavailable (and salt is nearly impossible to use in the tropics anyway due to the fact that the humidity hovers around 200%. I actually have problems with heart palps and such when first adjusting to the change.

    I do have to admit that I limit my intake the day before a date or other event, because I’ve noticed that especially high-sodium days will cause me to retain weight. But I never really keep track of my daily consumption, for the most part the rule is “when in doubt, reach for salt shaker.”

  23. For myself, I love variety in everything – including my salt. I currently have nine varieties sitting in cute little bins alongside my stove. I can buy most varieties by weight at my local deli counter, and they package them in the little oval bins for me . I’ve two varieties of smoked salt, one alderwood (smells like a campfire, goes on my steaks) and one a chardonnay-oak smoked french salt (a pinch added to rye bread dough before baking complements the flavour well). Each of my salts gets used differently, for tomatoes in the morning I use flake salt, for meats I use the heartier salts like Hawaiian Aleae or Pink Himalaean, for eggs and lighter dishes a sprinkling of French Sel des Gris or pulverized (in my mortar) New Zealand sea salt. Anytime I find a new salt, I have to buy 50g or so and give it a shot.
    I woouldn’t worry too much about using too much, with good quality salt you can’t really overdo it providing you taste as you go, and never salt a sauce until it’s practically finished reducing. And of course, if you’re using butter , make sure it’s sweet (unsalted) butter or you’ll throw the balance completely out of whack.
    As for electrolyte balance, since you’re following intuitive eating trust your cravings. You’ll want potassium loaded snacks if you’ve had too much salt recently, and you’ll crave salty foods if you’ve had too much water post-workout. Your body knows what it needs, you just have to listen.
    @heidi – sea vegetables and other natural foods really are the best form of absorbable Iodine, keep it up!

    • THank you for the reminder to break out my package of wakame again! And I’ll check my local deli to see if they carry any fun salts. I’m dying to try them!

  24. Interesting. I feel like salt is one of those things I should be obsessive over, like fat, from being raised in the fat-free ’90s. But for whatever reason I’m really not. I read somewhere that if you’re eating real foods with salt you’re still consuming a lot less than are in processed foods. It makes food taste good and, in my mind, makes everything more satisfying. It’s the way I was raised and neither of my parents have ever had blood pressure issues. So hopefully it works out that way for me!

  25. I tried the low salt thing too. I thought it was going to be my magic bullet but besides the weight I lost the first week, it did nothing good. My workouts went to the crapper, I was miserable, and it was VERY HARD. My nutritionist said basically the same thing – don’t worry about salt, worry about eating mostly unprocessed foods. My blood pressure is fine, and limiting the grains did way more for the bloat (sadly, because I love grains!!) than the no salt.

    And flavored zico coconut water mixed with water as sports drink for a long run hot day is pretty much the best thing ever.

    • Mmmm… coconut water! Are you still doing the 1 serving of grains a day? So interesting about the bloat issues. Have you seen any other difference from basically cutting out grains?

      • Weight is going down slooooooowly. Things are fitting better. And I feel better. But it’s weird, I would probably eat 4-5 servings of grains a day (or more) and feel normal, now I have 2 on a splurge day and my body is like “whatwhatwhaaaat?” and feels like crap.

  26. Several years ago I was blacking out any time I stood up, and after getting up to give my Mister a hug when he got home from work, and passing out in his arms (isn’t that romantic!), I went to the doctor, who told me to eat more salt. I don’t like salty things (unless I think they should be salty). I don’t try to limit salt, but I don’t go out of my way to eat more either. (Also, I don’t think salt tastes good in cookies, so I leave it out)

  27. Himlayan salt is amazing! We use it in everything from homemade gatorade to cooking.

    It makes sense that we should consume more salt, since it is so nourishing for the thyroid and also for the adrenals. People often overlook the fact that the adrenals need (good) salt for proper function and that limiting salt, in combination with too little sleep and too much caffeine can cause major problems for the adrenals!

    Great article!

  28. I try to watch the sodium levels on things I buy & rarely add it on anything BUT I do have probs with bloating if I consume to much sodium. Saying all that, you can eat too little – I have a friend whose hubby fainted at the gym & the doc said it was due to reducing salt too low. I sweat a lot so I am careful not too go too low. I keep kosher salt in the house.

  29. I’m not surprised. Several years ago I read a book called something like “your body’s many cries for water” and one of the things the guy wrote about was that cutting out sodium had a negative impact on heart health. I really can’t remember exactly why, and I’ll probably say it wrong, but essentially, cutting out too much salt would leave our blood chemistry balance out of whack, make our blood kind of thick, causing our hearts to have to work harder to move the blood around. But I’m probably misremembering that entirely. An interesting book, though.

    Still, I think it’s entirely appropriate to moderate our salt intake, especially regarding processed foods. I think that is where we get in trouble, not so much with food we make ourselves. So, I’ve taken the approach to add salt as indicated in a recipie, and add salt to taste, but only AFTER I’ve actually tasted it.

    And, randomly related story – a friend of mine had been a smoker for about 20 years, and salted everything to the extreme. Once she was finally able to quit smoking, she found she didn’t want as much salt on her foods, since she could actually taste the food better.

  30. Here’s a posting about salt from a nutritionist that can shed some light on the issue.
    http://nutritiondiva.quickanddirtytips.com/what-kind-of-salt-is-healthiest.aspx

  31. Big fan of salt ever since I ended up completely dehydrated with bottomed out potassium levels and a IV hooked up to my arm. HUGE FAN of salt but no longer a huge fan of Bikram.

    • Oh I remember that story! Yikes!! And too funny about not liking Bikram any more. I haven’t ever tried it again after my one time.

  32. I keep a grinder of sea salt in my room because I occasionally feel the need to eat plain salt. My favorite snack as a kid was just sucking on ice cubes covered with salt (Does that even count as a snack?), so salt and I go way back. I’m glad to know this doesn’t mean my heart’s going to explode or something sinister like that, especially since I grew up in the nineties hearing about how you shouldn’t eat so much salt.

  33. Since studying anatomy and physiology, I have sometimes wondered whether many of us are further exacerbating low salt intake by drinking water that we’re actually not thirsty for, in the interests of ‘good health’.

    See, I’m a big sweater when I’m exercising. I lose huge amounts during a weights circuit or a spin or combat class, so I always used to drink a ton of water while exercising, whatever the weather, because I’d been told repeatedly that unless you’re really exercising over a long period, or very hard, you’ll lose water, but not many electrolytes (sodium included). I often used to end up with a headache after exercise, so then I’d drink more water, thinking I hadn’t had enough. Headache would stick around, or get worse, and I’d eventually end up feeling lousy and taking paracetamol (I think you USers call that something different – acetominophen maybe?). After I started studying, and learned more about homeostasis of electrolytes, I decided to try an experiment and restrict my water intake a little during exercise (I used to chug through a 750ml bottle, now I do 1/3-1/2 that). No headaches! If it’s hot, and I know I’ll NEED to drink, I take a home-made electrolyte drink. No headaches there either! Turns out I sweat enough while exercising that I DO lose a significant amount of sodium, and filling up on water alone was just exacerbating that problem. I probably do dehydrate a little, but I replace the water gradually afterwards, rather than all at once. It’s also done away with the bloating I used to experience the morning after a big exercise session. I don’t even have a low intake of sodium to start with (though it’s certainly not high).

    Anyway, that’s a long-winded way of saying that I now wonder whether people who combine a low salt intake with a high water intake (you know, the typical drinking X number of glasses or bottles a day, rather than drinking to thirst) are actually going through their lives fighting hyponatremia (low blood sodium), which has all sorts of flow-on effects in the cells. Our bodies’ homeostatic mechanisms are So.Darn.Powerful. I feel like there are so many ways we screw them around when we try to control our diets in one way and another.

  34. Wow, didn’t know about this. If this is the truth, let’s get it back into my food. I miss my salty pop corns.

  35. Hi Everyone,
    The only time I did not use salt was during my first pregnancy. I got to where I could eat eggs without salt..now a big YUCK. I have some of the pink Hawaiian salt, and love the texture and color. it is damp and chunky so it adds a crunch that is very pleasing. Mostly I use Himalayan salt, but worry that the mountains might not appreciate being mined for it. 😉 I do think that deep earth salts are going to have a full range of minerals in small doses, and therefore be very good for us. BTW, tissue salts are not anything like salt added to food. They are micro-doses Homeopathically prepared, and will not cause bloating in the salt-sensitive. Cell salts in balance keep our cells communicating with each other..a really good thing.

  36. I never believed the “salt” myth. People have used salt to preserve foods since time memoriam. All of a sudden, it was supposed to be “bad”. No way! And I also never stopped using butter and real eggs–never had an egg-beater–never will.

    My contention was always: If it comes from Mother Nature, eat it. If it’s manufactured by humans, (margarine–a chemical) stay away from it.

    Now at 60, I’m so glad I never fell for this hype. I’d probably have died of a heart attack long ago if I had.

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