Salt is essential to life and good health.
Doctors well recognize salt’s functions in the human body. Whether it’s the saline solution used in a hospital emergency room or dietary therapy to treat or prevent health threats, medical experts recognize the important role of salt for life and good health.
Some of the most common medical issues related to salt:
Oral Rehydration Therapy: Salt is critical in maintaining human hydration. Scientific studies have confirmed the importance of a balance of electrolytes: sodium, calcium, potassium and magnesium. For instance, after exercise it is necessary to replace not only the water lost through perspiration, but the important electrolyte, sodium, as well. And when diarrhea dehydrates the body, medical professionals use a combination of salt, sugar and water called oral rehydration therapy (ORT) to restore lost fluids. ORT is used in resource-poor settings around the world to save lives that would otherwise be lost to dehydration due to diarrhea and other illnesses. In fact, the British Medical Journal called ORT “the most important medical advance of [the 20th] century.”
Hyponatremia: When the body loses electrolytes, either from perspiration, diarrhea or over-rehydration with water, “water intoxication” or hyponatremia occurs. Severe hyponatremia is a true medical emergency. Symptoms range from mild to severe and can include nausea, muscle cramps, disorientation, confusion, seizures, coma or death. To avoid this condition, medical authorities advise marathon runners to consume extra salt.
Saline IV Solution: In the hospital, salt routinely saves lives. Patients with varying conditions, from diarrhea or heart failure, are given saline solution intravenously in an effort to maintain electrolytic balance at the cellular level, and to ensure the patient’s hydration, especially important in situations where a patient is not able to ingest the necessary electrolytes by mouth.
Cleansing Wounds: The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) irrigant commonly used to cleanse wounds contains the same ratio of sodium chloride as does human blood (0.9% salt).
Blood Pressure: Our bodies’ circulatory systems, like our home or community water systems, need adequate pressure to fulfill their function. But too much pressure, as in the plumbing example, can lead to “blowing a gasket.” Blood pressure, hypertension, is a risk factor for cardiovascular events like heart attacks and strokes. Dietary salt is among the body’s key regulatory variables determining blood pressure, fully as important as hormone systems like the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. For 4,000 years, salt has been known to affect blood pressure. Doctors may prescribe low-salt diets. Manipulating salt intake levels in persons who consume inadequate amounts of potassium, magnesium and calcium often changes blood pressure (in both directions) – and triggers a number of other “unintended consequences” as well, some of them deadly. The health outcomes of low-salt diets are controversial, but the federal database shows cardiovascular mortality is significantly (37%) higher on low-salt diets, even if blood pressure is lowered.
Cystic Fibrosis: A test of perspiration salinity is often used as a test for cystic fibrosis. Scientists currently suspect that cystic fibrosis is caused by a deformed protein that prevents chloride outside cells from attracting needed moisture.
Aging: Because of declining renal function in the aging body, the kidneys retain less sodium. Changes in the intestinal function sometimes also lead to reduced absorption of many nutrients. These changes expose the elderly to an increased risk of hyponatremia. It is essential that the elderly maintain a stable sodium level in the body.
Pregnancy: Proper nutrition is vitally important for the health of expectant mothers and their babies. A generation ago, obstetricians concerned about their patients’ weight gain in pregnancy prescribed low salt diets. But low-salt diets during pregnancy increased stillborn births and low-birth weight infants so the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology now condemns their use. ACOG found “there is no clinical benefit in restricting sodium intake during pregnancy and there is the potential for harm.”Also, see Iodine Deficiency below.
Iodine Deficiency: Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) are the major cause of preventable mental retardation. UNICEF recognizes combating IDD as its major target to protect children around the world. All public health nutrition experts in this area recognize that fortifying salt with iodine (potassium iodate or potassium iodide) is the most cost-effective solution to this global challenge. About 70% of the world’s population has access to iodized salt.
Diabetes: Our bodies need salt to maintain healthy levels of insulin. Low-salt diets can impair insulin sensitivity, reducing the body’s ability to metabolize glucose and leading, potentially, to Type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.