Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hi
Speaker 1: brain Stuff. I'm more in Vogelbaum and this is a
Speaker 1: classic episode from our podcast archives. Nutrition is a very
Speaker 1: individual personal issue because none of our bodies work exactly
Speaker 1: the same way. But researchers can look at data like
Speaker 1: what we purchase from grocery stores and restaurants and make
Speaker 1: some generalizations, and one of them is that we should
Speaker 1: all be keeping an eye on our salt in tape.
Speaker 1: But why is this? And how much salt is too much?
Speaker 1: Hi brain Stuff, Lauren vogel Bomb. Here, salt, the word
Speaker 1: itself makes our salivary gland standard attention and our taste
Speaker 1: buds burst to life. But what's in a word in
Speaker 1: salts case, it's sodium and six chloride. Common table salt,
Speaker 1: also known as halite, from the only family of rocks
Speaker 1: commonly eaten by humans, etymologically derived from Salice, the Roman
Speaker 1: goddess of health and well being. Salt by any other
Speaker 1: name would be just as irresistibly delicious. We spoke with
Speaker 1: Sharon H. Burg Quist, m d. Assisted Professor of Medicine
Speaker 1: at Emery University School of Medicine. They said, we are
Speaker 1: hardwired to crave salt and ancestral times, the availability of
Speaker 1: this essential mineral was scarce. To motivate us to seek salt,
Speaker 1: our bodies became designed to get reward and pleasure from it.
Speaker 1: From piking pizzas and pasta sauces, suliferous soups, pungent meats
Speaker 1: and fizzy sodas, to popcorn, chips and nuts. We love
Speaker 1: our salty naushes and beverages. The bad news is that
Speaker 1: these snacky processed foods, which make up the bulk of
Speaker 1: the average American diet, are packed with excess salt, and
Speaker 1: it's shaking up our health. As burg Quist explained, the
Speaker 1: sodium its salt, causes most of the damage in our organs.
Speaker 1: When faced with excess salt, our kidneys try to excrete
Speaker 1: as much as possible. Some sodium, however, accumulates the body
Speaker 1: holds onto water to dilute the sodium. This increases the
Speaker 1: volume of blood and pressure on blood vessels. The resulting
Speaker 1: high blood pressure can damage many organs, including the heart, kidneys,
Speaker 1: and brain. Sodium is a vital electrolyte. Electrolytes are not
Speaker 1: what plants crave, but rather minerals dissolved in the body's
Speaker 1: fluids to help balance our cells and regulate bodily functions
Speaker 1: like hydration signals to and from the brain, blood pressure,
Speaker 1: and the proper functioning of our nerves and muscles, especially
Speaker 1: our most important and hardest working muscle, the heart. Too
Speaker 1: much sodium can lead to hypertension or high blood pressure.
Speaker 1: Not enough sodium can lead to hypoon atrema, which can
Speaker 1: result in shock. Asked which is more of a health
Speaker 1: risk a diet too low or too high end sodium,
Speaker 1: burg Quist replied, While a few studies have raised concern
Speaker 1: that a very low sodium diet may be harmful in
Speaker 1: certain sick groups of people, the bigger problem is that
Speaker 1: we are consuming too much salt. The current average consumption
Speaker 1: of thirty milligrams a day roughly one point five teaspoons,
Speaker 1: raises blood pressure, which can increase the risk of heart
Speaker 1: attacks and stroke. So just how much salt is necessary
Speaker 1: to survive? Is there a minimum and a maximum amount?
Speaker 1: Burg Quist said, We can't live without salt. We need
Speaker 1: a minimum amount for our nerves and muscles to function
Speaker 1: and to maintain our fluid balance. There isn't a clear minimum,
Speaker 1: but it's likely around two hundred milligrams, which is many
Speaker 1: fold below the average daily intake. The CDC suggests consuming
Speaker 1: no more than milligrams of sodium per day, and the
Speaker 1: American Heart Association recommends an ideal limit of no more
Speaker 1: than fifteen hundred milligrams per day. Burg Quist said, of
Speaker 1: the salt we eat comes from processed food, so reducing
Speaker 1: or avoiding processed and fast food is a good place
Speaker 1: to start for lowering sodium intake. And given these numbers,
Speaker 1: people with hypertension will be heartened to know that it
Speaker 1: is possible to lower blood pressure by consuming less salt.
Speaker 1: To that end, burg Quist reveals that results from the
Speaker 1: dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, or DASH trials, were foundational
Speaker 1: in linking lower sodium intake with lower blood pressure. The
Speaker 1: first part of the DASH trial found that a diet
Speaker 1: and the sizing fruits, vegetables, low fat dairy foods, and
Speaker 1: limited red meat, saturated fats and sweets called the DASH
Speaker 1: diet lowered blood pressure compared to the standard American diet.
Speaker 1: The second trial looked at three levels of sodium intake. High, medium,
Speaker 1: are low in people who follow the DASH diet or
Speaker 1: these standard American diet. It concluded that the less sodium
Speaker 1: a person consumes, the lower their blood pressure. The recommendation
Speaker 1: is that we eat more whole foods like fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, nuts,
Speaker 1: and seeds. Burg Quists said, not only are they naturally
Speaker 1: low and sodium, but they're high and potassium, which opposes
Speaker 1: the effect of sodium by relaxing blood vessels and lowering
Speaker 1: blood pressure. As for runners and others who work up
Speaker 1: a healthy sweat exercising, burg Quist recommends Electrolyte, Laddin, sports
Speaker 1: drinks and foods instead of salt pills. It'll take a
Speaker 1: lot of self discipline and likely a period of moody
Speaker 1: withdrawal before we're able to give that briny siren sodium
Speaker 1: the final shake. But for the sake of our health,
Speaker 1: we owe it to ourselves to try just take it
Speaker 1: one stack at a time. Today's episode is based on
Speaker 1: the article Salt Breaking Up is Hard to Do on
Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot com, written by Carrie te Trow.
Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is a production off I Heart Radio in
Speaker 1: partnership with how stuff works dot Com, and it is
Speaker 1: produced by Tyler Plain. Or more podcasts my heart Radio,
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