Bringing salt back to the table
Salt is not the demon we’ve been led to believe, according to cardiovascular research scientist Dr James DiNicolantonio, talking to The Telegraph (7th August 2017).
Dr DiNicolantonio stresses that salt has been a staple of the human diet for thousands of years, and that salt consumption is unrestricted in places associated with healthy dietary habits – such as the Mediterranean Diet, which we wrote about recently, here.
“According to the British Heart Foundation, eating too much salt may raise your blood pressure, and having high blood pressure increases your risk of developing coronary heart disease.”
However, Dr DiNicolantonio argues that there is little rigorous scientific research that identifies salt as the main culprit, and while high blood pressure is bad for your health, reducing salt is not the only way to lower it. Being dehydrated, for example, will lower your blood pressure, but no one is suggesting that reducing water intake is good for your health.
Our bodies are designed to get rid of excess salt, and by unnecessarily limiting our intake we may be opening ourselves up to craving sugar or refined carbohydrates instead. These cravings are far more unhealthy than salt, as our bodies are not equipped to deal with an excess of sugar. “Don’t blame salt for what processed food and refined sugars did. It is a natural substance we all need. Let’s bring it back to the table,” DiNicolantonio concludes.
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