We all know the effect that most fast and prepared foods have on our weight. You would have to walk for 4 hours to burn off the calories in one Big Mac meal.
But extra calories may not be the worst part of the nutritional story of prepared and fast foods. That same Big Mac meal has about 50% of your recommended daily intake of calories … but almost 90% of the recommended intake of sodium.
Can’t Live Without Sodium
Humans need sodium. It’s an essential nutrient, which means we must get it from our diets because our bodies don’t produce it. Sodium helps maintain our fluid levels and is essential to proper muscle movements. If you didn’t have a minimum amount of sodium in your body, your heart would literally stop.
Why We Love Salt
The sodium we need is delivered to our bodies primarily through salt, (the common name for the chemical compound, sodium chloride).
We LOVE the taste of salt. Along with bitterness, sweet, sour and umami (the basis for MSG) saltiness is one of the five basic tastes that your tongue detects. So you are very sensitive to the taste of salt and food manufacturers and processors use it to add flavour to many different foods.
Salt Isn’t Just Salty: Salt does more than add a salty taste to food. Salt helps other food molecules release their aroma. So salt makes food smell better. And it reduces bitterness. Not just by masking it with salty flavour, but by actually reducing your ability to taste bitterness.
The Problem isn’t Salt, But How Much of it We Consume
As essential as it is, and as much as we like it, salt becomes very unhealthy when we consume too much of it. Excess salt is linked to increased risk of:
- Dementia
- Strokes
- Heart failure
- Bloating & puffiness
- Heart attacks
- High blood pressure
- Kidney disease
How much salt do we need? Health Canada says adults should aim for an ‘adequate intake’ of salt each day of 1500 mg, and not exceed an ‘upper level’ of 2300 mg.
Read more about salt with Slash the Salt Part II