do you salt?
By bonnie
@bunnybon7 (50973)
Holiday, Florida
April 19, 2009 1:47pm CST
I have been getting this health newsletter in my email from a DR.William Campbell Douglass MD. Today I read an interesting article about salt. after all the worrying we've done about salt, I thought what a revelation here. Here is what he had to say. and then im asking whats your opinion on salt?
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Challenging the salt stigma
Try as I might, I've never been able to make much of a dent on the mainstream's maligning of salt.
Even though I've shouted at the top of my lungs that salt does NOT cause high blood pressure except in a very small percentage of people who are abnormally salt-sensitive, the mainstream continues to portray sodium as a killer to be shunned at all costs. And with today's ridiculously low guidelines for "high" blood pressure - there's no reprieve in sight for salt.
But some recent European research has concluded that an extra pinch or two of salt per day can help the elderly to stay healthy - and that fully 10% of older folks suffer from a sodium DEFICIENCY! This lack of sufficient daily salt can cause nervousness, hallucinations, muscle cramps, and even urinary incontinence.
This, amidst a UK-wide drive to reduce salt in Briton's diets!
In fact, according to a recent Nutraingredients online article, the UK's Health Minister, Melanie Johnson, rejected a June proposal from Britain's major food producers to reduce levels of salt in food - for not being stringent enough! Instead, she issued more than 20 of Britain's food giants a September ultimatum to reduce the "unacceptably high levels of salt" in their foods.
I guess it takes more than direct scientific evidence to shake the "salt stigma" in the hallowed halls of parliament, huh? Perhaps she was suffering from a low-sodium-induced hallucination...
The campaign against salt - and the continuing misinformation of the public about sodium and high blood pressure - is no less militant on these shores. I'd hoped that after the last round of downward revisions in the already absurdly low blood pressure standards, people would have started to question the conventional wisdom on the topic.
Instead, we seem content with today's most popular salt substitute: Hypertension drugs.
Here's one salty dog who never substitutes for the truth,
William Campbell Douglass II, MD
4 people like this
28 responses
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
19 Apr 09
a very interesting aticle. i still salt everything i cook. i have a friend whose husband had a heart attack & she has cut salt out of their diet completely. i don't know how they eat things w/out salt. it's awful. i'd like for her to see this article. thanks for the info.
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
22 Apr 09
i think u are right. have a happy day & thanks again.
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
22 Apr 09
i really just think its has to do with limits. not to much but enough to taste better,
1 person likes this
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
19 Apr 09
I have high blood pressure so does my hubby and most of my family..My step dad can just look at pork and his sky rockets..so I guess he is sensitive to salt.
But thanks for the information, it is appreciated and I actually forwarded it to my mother so she can also read it.
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
22 Apr 09
pork is known to have lots of fat and colesterol in it. pork doesnt set well with most people including me. but my dad ate bacon for breakfast almost every day of his life. i dont think its the salt altho theres to much in it, i think its fat content. dad was 76 and they think it was another bout of bleeding ulcers, since my brother found him days after he'd passed
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
24 Apr 09
My step dad has ulcers so does my husband and my mom loves bacon. Bacon and sausage is basically the only pork I do buy, but we rarely eat it but once a month..so we know our limits with that type of meat.
@amirev777 (4117)
• India
22 Apr 09
hi
yeah even i read somewhere that salt is not such an enemy it is projected to be.Ask any doctor-he will caution u against overconsumption of salt esp if u r prone to high blood pressure.but salt or sodium in its right proportion is required for electrolyte balance in our body.but then for so many years we have known two white poisons-1.sugar and 2.salt. but if a deficiency of any substance in our body causes some problems-the excess will also surely cause some other problems-so its all abt balancing.
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
28 Apr 09
yes it is about balance. when i worked in the heat, our company had free salt pills you could take to keep up with the loss of your sweating and they insisted on lots of water intake.
@schulzie (4061)
• United States
24 Apr 09
I always salt my food. It doesn't taste right if I don't. I mean I do not overly salt my food, but I do add enough to enhance the flavor. They are always coming up with reasons why this or that is not healthy for us to consume, yet our ancestors before us ate or drank these things and they lived to ripe old ages. It is just amazing!
I think that if anything is done in moderation then it is ok to use or ingest.
Have a great day and happy myLotting!!!
Have a great day and happy myLotting!!!
@thebeaddoodler (4262)
• Lubbock, Texas
22 Apr 09
I love Dr. Douglas' newsletters! I would just like to point out that we shouldn't be using table salt, but rather kosher or sea salt. The anti clumping agent in table salt is bonded to the salt. I wonder if our bodies can break the clumping agent off the sodium molecule so it is usable as a nutrient. I also wonder if this may be the reason that salt can aggravate high blood pressure.
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
28 Apr 09
thats a thought. we probably should use more natural salts instead of that processed salt.
@Jae2619 (1483)
• United States
24 Apr 09
I tpyically don't use alot of salt when cooking, or add to to the food after it's done. I just use a tad her and there. But I do tend to crave those salty french fries from mcdonalds, lol.
I had pregnancy induced hypertension/preclampisa, and was told to make sure I kept all salt from my diet, and I did the best I could, and could tell that when I did eat something that had high sodium levels, I would swell up even more than I was already, and my blood pressure would fluctuate. When I would go to the hosptial the doctors there would tell me to just keep it balances, but my OB would tell me not to have any, so I wasn't sure what to do. I still watch how much I use with my foods, but after reading this, makes me feel little bit better on knowing that there are people doing research on things that we are told are bad for us.
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
29 Apr 09
possibley you should only worry about to much salt when you are pregnant.
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
22 Apr 09
I haven't used extra salt in 25 years, we don't need it and it just gives us high blood pressure and high cholesterol
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
27 Apr 09
i think thats the right word "EXTRA" or to much is not needed. just a little for taste.
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
20 Apr 09
I think that in our fight to stay healthy, often times we are depriving our bodies of things that it needs and putting things in that it doesn't. I can't help but believe that things like artificial sweeteners are doing more harm than simply eating a teaspoonful of sugar would. It doesn't really surprise me to hear this about salt.
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
27 Apr 09
i think your very right about artificial things. we need to eat as natural as possible.
@angel_of_charm (4134)
• Philippines
22 Apr 09
i grew up having salt in my daily food but we don't put too much on every cooking, we just put some to taste with the cooking..i never liked salty foods at all because first is i easily get urinary infections when i eat salty food..
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
27 Apr 09
hhhmmm! i never knew that. i wonder if thats the cause of mine when i got them.
@tamarafireheart (15384)
•
20 Apr 09
Hi bunnybon7,
There is so much scares about what we can eat and what we can't eat is really getting on my nerves and I do like salt in my food and I will have it, I only live once and I don't take a lot of salt I moderate whatr I eat.
Tamara
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
20 Apr 09
I always suspected that salt was much maligned. Salt is so necessary for our body chemistry. Even the romans used to pay their soldiers a "salarium' in salt. The word salary comes from the word salarium. I'm not sure if I spelled the word correctly! Ther has been a lot of misinformation on this topic. Personally, I limited the salt intake when my children were young as I did not want their kidneys damaged by too much salt at an early age. But I ma hypoertensive and reducing salt in my diet only made me feel weak and ill - we all need some salt in order to survive. Excellent post
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
27 Apr 09
thanks my dear. i think the problem with salt may be that its no longer natural. they do so much to it these days. but we do need it for survival i think.
@Yori88 (1465)
• Philippines
22 Apr 09
I do not eat too much salt. I only put salt when the food I eat is not so good and it will be better when there is salt. I love eating and I sometimes can't resist junk foods. I love salty foods but not everyday, maybe just once a month. I know that too much salt is bad and too low in salt is also bad. So just eat right amount of salt. My husband was told not to eat to much salty foods because of his high blood pressure that sometimes happen to be associated with his likelihood of salty foods.
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
27 Apr 09
yes possibley he eats to much salt. you probably eat just enough.
@Jenniferp (210)
• United States
20 Apr 09
I have just recently started to feel better about salt. I do think that most things are okay in moderation, still not wise to eat too much. I certainly salt most things that I cook, but never add more because I do add enough to taste good ;)
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
27 Apr 09
yes most salt as they cook. i seldom do because i think it best to let others salt how they like.
@jugsjugs (12967)
•
20 Apr 09
this is a first as i have always been told to lower salt intake as it is harmful for blood pressure.i dont use salt anymore when i boil my vegtables anymore.yet my friend suffers from cramp in her legs and feet a lot and she got told to have more salt in her diet.
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
27 Apr 09
yes i guess you have to have an even scale. not to much or to little
@sudiptacallingu (10879)
• India
20 Apr 09
Regarding high blood pressure, salt cannot be the lone culprit otherwise all our forefathers would have had hypertension. Its our way of stressful and unhealthy lifestyle that is the main contributor to hypertension and other heart-related diseases. If we can cut out on our strain and stress, eating salt in normal doses wont affect us at all.
@carolscash (9492)
• United States
20 Apr 09
I always add a little salt to the foods that I am cooking. I know from my health classes in school that we need sodium. There is no way that a little of it every day could hurt us as some doctors suggest. I believe that a lot of the additives that are in our food is what gives people heart disease, cancer, diabetes,etc. If you look at all of the food recalls, it makes you wonder why we don't go back to growing and making our own food.
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
24 Apr 09
oh if only my son would agree to a garden in back. but agra would probably not like it. 
@ketybhagat (4123)
• India
20 Apr 09
Ooooo friend, you've made my day ! I eat salt a little more than the others. I feel the taste awful if the right amount of salt is not put in food. I always had the fear that if ever I had hypertension. Id die with no salt or less salt in my food. This had indeed made me a happy person knowing salt is ok. I dont say I overdo salt, but like it a pinch more than the others. So also my son. Now after reading your truth by Dr. Douglass, Im a much relieved person. Thanks ever so much.
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
25 Apr 09
i have a daughter that is like that. she uses more salt than anyone else i know. it never seemed to hurt her. shes 43 yrs now.
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
20 Apr 09
I always put salt on my viand to make it more tasty. But I make sure that my food is not too salty, otherwise it won't taste good. Having salt in one's person is not dangerous for as long as it is in moderation.
@amidala (31)
• China
20 Apr 09
HI,
thank you for sharing although i have read it from internet before. i dont eat salt much. but when i am out of home, i have no choice but obliged to eat a lot. because restaurant almost are used to adding a lot of salt to make the dish good.
but i resist it from my real thought.
i would like to eat only the vegetables itself. other addictive are not good to our health.
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
24 Apr 09
possibley not. but it depends on how much is what the doc is saying.
@TwiLighT74 (18)
• Turkey
20 Apr 09
I am using salt. Especially in summer or when you have fever it is important, because in this times you lose water and sodium from your body, which can also cause different diseases.For get the sodium back, you must supply salt. But I think too much is also not good.
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
25 Apr 09
oh yes i've heard of people getting sick from low sodium.
