WEBVTT - How Salt Works 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:04.520 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from house Stuff Works 0:00:04.559 --> 0:00:13.520 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:16.640 and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant and this is Stuff 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:20.000 you should Know the podcast. Oh yeah, Jerry's over there. 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:23.040 She's all laughy today for some reason. The salty dog. 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:28.560 Why did salty calling someone salty? I wonder where that 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:31.160 came from. I meant to look that up. It's someone 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:34.040 I didn't look up because you know, you're in a 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:38.120 salty nod. Yeah, I've said that plenty uh and once 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:41.080 that comes from like a salty dog. Here's here, this 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:45.240 is this is my idea. Okay, so salty described somebody 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:47.480 who is a little coarse, a little rough around the edges, 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:53.400 a little upset. Hear me out because their faces usually 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:58.160 puckered into like a a sour puss face. And what 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:03.280 makes your face pucker eating salt. So there's a salty person, okay, 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:06.440 I would call them lemony. Well, so take something with 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:11.560 a grain of salt. Actually ancient that's from the romans Um. 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:13.600 They would take poison with a grain of salt, or's 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:15.520 something that was hard to swallow with a grain of 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:20.880 salt to make it go down more easily. Okay, somebody 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:23.800 not being worth their salt. In this article it says 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:26.680 that um slaves were traded with salt, and if you 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:29.959 got your hands on like a slave, that wasn't worth 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:32.360 much Like that, he wasn't worth his salt. Is that 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:35.720 not the origin I found? The first reference in print 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:39.600 came from an eighteen oh five description or book about 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:43.720 an expedition to Guinea Bissau, and it mentions a guy 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:47.160 who wasn't worth his salt. He's a good man, Peter 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:51.400 Hale h a y eli um, but he wasn't worth 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:53.320 his salt, the guy said. And I looked it up 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:57.200 and I couldn't find that whether Hale was hired or 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:01.720 was a slave. But I got the impression that, Um, 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:04.000 what the guy was talking about wasn't that he had 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:07.160 traded salt for hail, but not worth the salt like 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:10.280 in his body. No, he was not worth the salt, 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:14.720 meaning a salary, which supposedly salary is rooted in the 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:19.280 idea of paying someone in salt, same with soldiers salt 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:23.440 dre and to give salt salad to The word salad 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:28.359 comes from the word salt, so salt is a it's 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:33.280 a it's an important thing. Historically speaking, there's been economies 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:37.760 largely based on salt. There have been um cultures rated 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:43.280 by other cultures because of salt. Um. If you were 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:49.560 an ancient salt producing area, probably the rulers control with 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:55.280 the tight grip um that salt production and salt distribution um. 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:59.720 And that actually carried on into the modern age when 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:03.320 the when Great Britain was occupying India, they had a 0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:07.240 tight control on salt production there um. And actually Gandhi 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:12.480 started a revolution or helped along the revolution to overthrow 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:16.639 British imperial power through a salt protest. He walked two 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:19.720 hundred and forty miles to the coast where the salt 0:03:19.760 --> 0:03:24.720 production facilities were and grabbed a bit of salty clay 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:26.880 and boiled it, boiled the salt out of it, which 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:31.840 was an illegal act, and that protests spurred other similar protests, 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:35.720 and the British were like, oh, hey, you can't do that, mate, 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.920 you can't mind your own salt. But he did because 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:41.920 he was Gandhi. It was called the Salt March to 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:47.600 Dandhi by gand by Gandhi. Uh yeah. Salt dates back 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:51.040 to sixty b C. And they actually found evidence of 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:56.240 salt trading in prehistoric times. So obviously it's used to 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:59.160 spice food is great, but it's used to preserve food. 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:02.520 Was super able, yeah back in the day and still today, 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:05.480 because salt is one of these things. You remember, Nature 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:09.320 loves homeostasis, it loves balance. If you introduce salt to 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:12.200 the mix, it kind of throws off that balance. So 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:17.839 to gain homeostasis, salt is introduced into say meat. It 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:21.040 likes to go into the meat, but it also draws 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:24.279 out the moisture, whether it's blood, water, whatever, so it 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:27.719 dries out the meat. It introduces the salt and it 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:30.960 draws out the moisture. That's right. That's called curing, which 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:34.680 preserves things because anytime bacteria comes in contact with that 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:38.440 salty meat, from that point on, the bacteria boom gets 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:42.480 dried out and dies. Yeah, that's why packaged foods are 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:46.480 still loaded with sodium. Unfortunately, I got some stuff on 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:49.919 that later. But it was used as a currency in 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:53.600 Ethiopia up until the twentieth century, and was used as 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:57.120 a form of suicide in China for nobility. They would 0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:00.520 o d on salt and kill themselves. Oh yeah, because 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:04.520 it was expensive and very valuable. So nobility, that's like, 0:05:04.600 --> 0:05:06.200 it was like a noble way to go out. And 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:08.159 we'll talk in a minute, like what happens when you 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:10.240 have too much salt? It's not very pleasant. It's not 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:12.760 very pleasant. But you know in medieval Europe, remember we 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:16.400 did the ten medieval torture devices this episode, well we 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:19.120 skipped one called the goats tongue, and it was apparently 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:23.280 a real thing, a tickle torture. They would dip your feet, 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:27.200 bringing a goat, and the goat would lick the bottom 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:29.360 of your feet and then they would dip it again. 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:32.919 And from that in the description, no, I'm saying like 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:38.360 it wasn't in there. Um from the description, apparently being 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:42.760 tortured tickle tortured was not pleasant. I would love to 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:45.520 have my feet looked by a goat. They would do 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:48.039 it until you did not love it. That was the 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:50.040 point of the goats tongue to it. Sounds like fun 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:54.200 to me. Uh. And the Middle Ages, salt was transported 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:57.200 along the notorious Old Salt Route and northern Germany. I 0:05:57.200 --> 0:05:59.840 know what I'm gonna get you for Christmas, now, a 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:03.720 go in some salt water. I've had both at the 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:06.360 same time. I don't know, I didn't think about it. Uh, 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:10.279 it was played this big role in early America as well. Yeah, 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:13.320 Massachusetts Bay Colony had the first pattern to produce salt 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:17.440 here in the colonies, saltwater, and uh they did so 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:20.839 for two hundred years. Uh. The Erie Canal opened primarily 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:24.520 to transport salt. Yeah, they called it the ditch that 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:28.080 salt built. It sounds like something you just made up. No, 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:31.560 I swear I've been on the Erie Canal. Oh. Yeah, yeah, 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:35.600 they have this nice system of locks, and um, they 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:38.000 used to there's still like donkey trails from where the 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:41.039 donkeys used to pull these little flat bottom boats that 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:46.000 would carry salt and whatnot. And now yuppies walk along 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:52.200 those trails. Dog yuppies. A they're still yuppies. Oh yeah, thanks, Yeah, 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:56.239 I heard one the other day. Uh, dual income large 0:06:56.279 --> 0:07:03.279 dog owner. All right. And the early salt was apparently 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:07.400 four times expensive as beef because salt was valuable obviously, 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:09.640 and we were allows you with beef. And in Civil 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:13.680 War salt played a big part in the Union strategy. Um, 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:16.760 there were quite a few battles fault over capturing salt 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:20.880 works and salt mines. Yeah, in Saltville, Virginia. Yeah, I 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:23.560 wonder what they do there. And it actually had a 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:27.360 big effect on the salt shortage on the Confederate troops. Yeah, 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:29.720 not just the troops, but the people behind the lines 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:32.160 back in the Confederate States were like, we want our salt, 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:34.640 and they had a huge impact on morale apparently, I 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:37.800 would say so. And the reason why salt is so important. 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:39.960 If you haven't gotten the impression that it is important 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:43.239 by now, you should rewind the podcast and just listen 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:45.840 to the last several minutes over again. Yeah, salt is 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:50.760 extraordinarily important because the human body requires it. It's something 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:54.080 that we need to survive and to live, so much 0:07:54.120 --> 0:08:00.240 so that we actually have a taste sense for it. 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:02.960 It's the only you don't need better to live, or 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:06.320 sour or umami. As a matter of fact, things like 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:11.520 bitter and sour are there. I think to detect things 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:14.520 that we shouldn't be eating. Salt is to detect something 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:17.320 we need that's right and we can. Actually, this is 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:19.600 so mind blowing to me. I love the human body. 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:23.240 I think it's amazingly wonderful in ways that we don't 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:26.760 even fully understand yet. But consider this. When you need salt, 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:30.880 your body produces a craving in you for salt that 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:34.440 is awesome. Like I'm one of those believers. I I 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:37.960 don't follow it necessarily myself, but in a diet, well, 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:42.040 no thing, But in a diet where you just eat 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:45.360 what you crave, I think you can go off the 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:48.240 rails because I think that we uh have the wrong 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:51.120 things now. Yes, now, but if you could go back 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:54.960 a hundred fifty years, maybe I would bet you could 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:58.880 survive pretty easily and thrive on a diet where you 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:00.679 were just kind of led by your cravings, like oh 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:04.680 it need some megs and eat a couple of eggs, steak. 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:08.880 You don't know. You should pay attention to yourself, listen 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:11.120 to what your body is telling you, and I'll bet 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:14.120 you find that you do have specific cravings for specific moods, 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:19.360 foods that are like very simple meat like chuck go 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:23.959 eat a steak, Chuck go eat some eggs, like things 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:26.320 that are basic staples. I'll bet you'll notice you have 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:31.000 cravings salt. Uh. Let's let's break it down chemically. Um 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:33.720 it's sodium and chlorine are the two basic elements, and salt. 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:37.280 I think we all know this, which are electrolytes. That's right, 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:40.200 and we'll get into that in a minute. Um, sodium 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:43.680 is silvery white metal, and it is neither one of 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:47.320 these are like super friendly independently of one another. No, 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:51.640 you know, like especially chlorine. Yeah, sodium reacts violently if 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:54.839 you mix it with water and oxidizes in air. Chlorine 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:59.040 exists in gas at a room temperature. They're both really volatile. 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:02.559 But when you put them together and you have sodium chloride, 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:07.439 they make beautiful music, makes beautiful halite, uh, and beautiful music. 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:12.119 And sodium chloride is is about a sixty sodium to chloride, 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:18.680 by the way, is that right? Yeah? It makes little cubes, right, Yeah? 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:22.959 Is it? The molecules are cubicle, right. The sodium packs 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:26.320 in pretty tight, and then the chlorine fills in the 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:30.360 rest and they make tiny little cubes. It's actually reversed, 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:34.559 That's what I said. Yeah, the chloride is packed and 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:37.080 then the sodium fills in. But you know, I would 0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:40.959 have thought the sodium was bigger. Oh well, Um, will 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:42.760 you have is an A C L. That's right? And 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:46.160 you mentioned electrolytes. Those are minerals that conduct electricity in 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:48.720 our body and our fluids and tissues, which is very 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:53.439 important important as muscle movement, we run on electricity. Heart 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:58.920 involuntary muscle UM moves through electrical impulse. I guess all 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:02.120 muscles do. Yeah, you want your eyes to blank, buddy? Yeah, 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:05.560 eat some salt, right, And so there's two conditions that 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:08.920 you can have conceivably well three, three would be just 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:11.959 all the systems are normal. But um, the other two 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:14.240 is too little salt and too much salt. And too 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:17.160 little salt is called hypoon atrema. Yeah, that's what that 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:20.840 lady died of the hold your WI for a week contest? 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:25.640 Oh is that right? Yeah? You can o d on water, 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:28.160 and I guess that's what you would ultimately die from. 0:11:28.280 --> 0:11:32.720 Is hypone tremea their water toxicity. Um, if you have 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:35.839 too much water, you probably have too little salt, because 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:38.520 water flush is salt from your system is the method 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:42.640 that your kidneys use to maintain the balance of salt 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:45.520 and other electrolytes in your body. And that's why you 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:48.679 might drink gatorade if you're working out, because it has 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:51.680 electrolytes in it, right, exactly. You don't want to water 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:54.320 your crop land with it, though, as we found from 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:58.600 the movie Idiocracy. Yeah, and actually found too that in 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:01.199 the nineteen eighties there was a lot of controversy over 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:05.680 salting roads killing roadside vegetation. Well, yeah, for sure. I 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:08.920 mean like that, if you were into conquests and that 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:11.080 kind of thing, and you wanted to make sure that 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:13.320 the land you just occupied couldn't be used to grow 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:16.760 crops to feed an imposing armor army, you would plow 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:19.360 the land with salt. Salt the earth, yeah, which is 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:20.920 not the salt of the earth, because that means you're 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:24.839 a good fellah, but not a good fella because those 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:28.599 guys are salty. Wow, look at you. That was that 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:32.160 was a team effort. Clever wordplay, my friend. Uh. If 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:36.160 you take diuretics um or you have like massive diarrhea 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:38.840 for a period of days, or vomiting or some sort 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:43.880 of stomach bug, you might be at risk for hyponatremia. Yeah, 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:47.200 because you're flushing out all of this, all of your 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:49.920 electual lights. This is salt that your body needs. So 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:53.200 if it's out of balance, you're going to suffer things like, um, well, 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:56.559 an inability for your heart to beat, which is often fatal. Yea, 0:12:56.840 --> 0:13:00.400 kidney problems, yeah, um on the other hand, you can 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:03.439 have hypernit tremia, which is too much salt, and like 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:06.800 you said, if you're a Chinese aristocrat, um, you may 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:14.040 die from hyper netremia. Yeah. They even had a m 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:17.199 man sometimes a blanket on word how to manual. Well, 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:19.080 it's sort of like how many grams of salt you 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:21.280 needed per pound in your body? That like a chart. 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:24.120 I guess if you want to kill yourself in China, 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:26.040 yours I you do it. Yeah, there's so much salt 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:30.200 you need? That was ro is he like that? Yeah? 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:32.640 I'm off today. No, you know, I'm a little off. 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:35.880 You were on my my microphone just swerved to the left, 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:39.960 but were happening. There's a ghost in here. Um, so 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:43.199 too much sodium, I think you said already is hypern 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:49.600 tremia instead of hypo hyper hyper hypo exactly. It's like glacemia, 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:54.120 but with no tremia exactly, and with hypernutremia. Basically, remember 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:58.680 how salt if you um, if you introduce it to say, 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:03.040 a jerky of some sort, it will dry it out. Yes, 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:07.640 it's just a shameful thing to do. Um. If you 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:10.000 introduce it to a meat or something like that, it's 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:14.240 going to dry it out because through osmosis in search 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:17.200 of homeostasis, um, it does the same thing to your 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:21.920 blood and your extracellular fluids. That salt will draw out 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:27.520 the fluids in your cells, but will maintain it in 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:31.280 your blood. It's water retention basically. Yeah, your kidneys, when 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:33.000 it has too much salt to deal with, kicks it 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:35.840 around the blood supply. Just like remember in the hangover 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:40.240 episode when you why drugs are so fatal when you 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:43.320 drink a lot of alcohol because your kidneys are trying 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:47.400 to process your the alcohol, so it keeps the drugs 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:50.360 just going around and around in your blood supply. Same 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:53.400 thing with too much salt. If your kidneys have too 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:55.320 much to deal with, they just keep the excess going 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:57.880 around in your blood. And since that salt is drawing 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:00.720 out all the excess moisture and increase is the volume 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:03.240 of your blood, which makes your blood pressure rise, which 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:09.840 makes your heart beat, yes, which supposedly logically would put 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:12.040 you at risk for a stroker heart attack, and that's 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:14.400 how you would die from hypernatremia. Yeah, I have high 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:19.560 blood pressure. Well, supposedly sodium. Cutting your sodium down isn't 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:23.000 going to help. Yeah, there's a lot of conflicting data 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:26.600 on that for sure. Um, well we'll get to nutrition soon. 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:28.880 We'll cover that. Well, how about before we move on, 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:37.000 do you want to do a message break? So chuck. Um. 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:40.840 They're like you said, there's a lot of controversy over 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:44.360 how much salt or how little salt you should have 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:48.400 on a daily basis in your diet. Yeah. Um, the 0:15:48.480 --> 0:15:52.800 Heart National Heart, Blood and Long Institute say no more 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:55.400 than two point four grams of sodium. It's about a 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:59.840 teaspoon per day. Americans they found consume an average of 0:15:59.880 --> 0:16:02.920 a about three point four per day, So that's one 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:07.240 gram too much on average. And um, you actually don't 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:09.120 need more than about a half a gram a day 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:12.960 if you want to maintain that stasis. So yeah, just 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:16.560 for your electro light intake. The thing is, though, um, 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:20.920 there was for many years because it makes sense that 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:24.120 if you're if too much salt increases your blood pressure, 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:27.760 then too much salt should be um, should put you 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:30.640 at risk for strokes and heart attacks. Right. Well, the 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:34.960 CDC panel surveyed material and all did and all all 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:40.520 sorts of studies that found no, cutting your sodium intake 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:44.680 doesn't really doesn't decrease your risk of heart attack or stroke. 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:47.680 And as a matter of fact, there is was it 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:50.800 just more hereditary. They don't know what it is. They 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:54.720 just know that basically below three thousand grams or three 0:16:54.720 --> 0:17:00.480 thousand milligrams of salt and above seven thousand mill grams 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:04.440 of salt a day were two groups that were at 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:06.640 higher risk of heart attack. So if you have too 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:09.720 little salt, you're at higher risk of heart attack. To okay, 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:13.000 so try to keep it between three thousand and four 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:16.480 thousand milligrams three thousand and seven th The thing is 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:20.720 is they they don't They weren't comfortable making any recommendation. 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:22.679 They were just sayone scared, this is what we found. 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:25.439 Everyone scared, like, go on the record, yeah, because we 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:27.280 just don't know. Like, it doesn't make any sense that 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:29.560 you would have a heart attack if you ate less 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:32.359 than three grams of sault today. That that flies in 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:35.600 the face of of um conventional wisdom, and nobody's figured 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:38.399 out why yet. Interesting, Well, it's something you should monitor 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:40.359 at the very least, because I think a lot of 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:43.439 people look at fat grams and calories and all that 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:47.199 stuff is great to look at nutritionally, but um, when 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:50.840 you start poking around on the soup can and you see, Wow, 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:55.960 this chicken noodle soup has milligrams of sodium, but it's 0:17:56.040 --> 0:17:58.919 so good. And this one little can which is almost 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:01.760 a gram of sodium, yeah close to it. A quarter 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:05.160 pounder with bacon and cheese. You didn't do Big Max, 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:08.520 Now I should have been communist. I think Big Max. 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:12.560 Actually I did see this is milligrams. The big Mac 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:18.080 I think was around leven pounds more. With the bacon. 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:23.040 I think they have like a whole bacon onion ranch 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:25.600 or something topping that you can put on quarter pounders. 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:28.560 Now I've not yet tried this, but like I think 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:31.720 about it from time to time, like right now, yeah, 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:35.240 right now, especially uh so at anyway, just give it 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:37.919 a look. Like soups are notoriously high in sodium. Package 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:41.280 foods are notoriously high in sodium. Um, don't just think 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:42.960 about the table salt that you use, Like, oh, I 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:44.840 didn't salt my food that much today. You need a 0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:46.840 lot of package food or eating a lot of sodium. Yeah, 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:48.800 and nobody can tell you how much you should be 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:51.200 eating or shouldn't be eating. But like you said, it's 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:53.040 good to just pay attention to that kind of thing, 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:56.200 because you probably are eating a lot more than you realize, 0:18:56.240 --> 0:18:57.879 and you should be eating a lot of package food anyway, 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:02.280 I'll just go ahead and say that, so um chuck, Yes, 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:06.040 what kinds of salt are there? Well, first of all, 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:09.080 I should say I love salt to Salt and pepper 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:12.600 are my favorite two spices. I'm from the South, have 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:17.360 a taste for salt um and pork fat. Yeah that's 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:22.040 pretty southern too, Yeah for sure. Uh So I love salt. 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:24.639 I like good Mediterranean sea salt. That's what I used 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:28.480 at my house. Uh and I'm gonna plug this local saltier. 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:33.640 I just made that word up oh later in the show. Okay, 0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:36.760 But um, I'm a big salt fan. I like salt too. 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:40.439 I like sweet, I like ummi, I like um sour. 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:44.960 I'm training myself to like bitter through the use of kampari. Yeah. 0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:49.040 Like I I've found out that I'm a bitter super taster. So, 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:52.120 like things that seem like normal to other people are 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:58.480 like really bitter to me. Like one example, fruit, Yeah, 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:01.000 but it's like like it just gustingly bitter to me. 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:03.160 Like I can't understand how the rest of humanity eats 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:05.199 grape fruit. I don't like grapefruit. Well, maybe you're a 0:20:05.200 --> 0:20:08.159 bitter super taster too, But I have to tell you this, 0:20:08.200 --> 0:20:12.719 I've trained myself to like um, grapefruit and coompari just 0:20:12.760 --> 0:20:15.800 by exposure, like I've come to appreciate them. With campari, 0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:21.440 it's a bar like a bitter DIGESTI for Appritif you 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:24.320 do like a campari and soda, it's in a negrowning right. Oh, 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:26.359 I think I've seen people like if their stomachs upset 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:29.159 or is that bitters and soda? Well, campari is a 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:33.560 type of bitters. It's not that super compact bitters like angustura, 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:36.040 but it is a type of bitter. I think it's 0:20:36.040 --> 0:20:40.000 a DIGESTI Okay, it's good stuff anyway. I like salt. 0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:42.920 What I'm really saying there is I like well seasoned food. 0:20:43.119 --> 0:20:46.240 And if you're a chef or a home chef, you 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:49.320 know that salt is important to cooking, super important and 0:20:49.359 --> 0:20:54.359 baking obviously, but bland food can't do it. No, what's 0:20:54.400 --> 0:20:59.240 the point. What is the point? Agreed? Types of salt, 0:20:59.760 --> 0:21:02.880 well start with table salt and and like man, if 0:21:02.920 --> 0:21:05.959 your if your doctor put you on like a bland 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:08.719 food diet, I feel for you. But there's stuff out 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:12.200 there you can eat. There's spike, there's Mrs Dash, there's 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:15.960 you should be seasoning your food to some extent, like 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:19.880 bland food is is like it's bland life. Yeah. They 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:22.800 even have the imitation salt of the New and New salt. 0:21:22.960 --> 0:21:26.520 I didn't do any research on that, but I've bought 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:30.280 it before. You do you like it? I didn't use 0:21:30.320 --> 0:21:32.560 it that much, but it's it exists in my home 0:21:33.800 --> 0:21:37.360 thanks to the empty thing of Mediterranean sea salt. Yeah, 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:39.240 all right, it's the table salt is the first one 0:21:39.280 --> 0:21:43.480 we should cover. That's the traditional um either iodized or 0:21:43.480 --> 0:21:49.160 non iodized, fine grained salt that you see in many 0:21:49.200 --> 0:21:52.159 many homes and restaurants, and it's IDEs. They did a 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:56.360 little research into this. Did you look up iodie salt? Yeah, well, 0:21:56.400 --> 0:21:58.640 I mean I know that they they added it because 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:02.320 at one point it was like fluoride. They thought, well, 0:22:02.119 --> 0:22:03.840 we need this in a good place to put it 0:22:03.920 --> 0:22:06.640 in salt. Yeah, because most people use salt, and we'll 0:22:06.640 --> 0:22:09.080 just put it into table salt because it's an easy additive. 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:13.679 But um, there was a real problem with hyper thyroidism, 0:22:14.040 --> 0:22:19.159 things like Goiter's mental retardation. UM just poor fetal development 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:24.719 linked to um iodine deficiency. So they put it in salt, 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:28.959 and apparently there it's considered to be responsible for this 0:22:28.960 --> 0:22:31.800 thing called the Flynn effect, which there was like a 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:34.480 three i Q point rise in the middle of the 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:38.840 twentieth century in western nations and nobody could figure out 0:22:38.840 --> 0:22:40.320 what it is. And they think now that it was 0:22:40.359 --> 0:22:43.960 because they added iodine to salt, and so it had 0:22:44.000 --> 0:22:48.200 the aggregate effect of raising our i Q by um 0:22:48.240 --> 0:22:52.639 preventing poor fetal development. Yeah. Well, it's still a problem 0:22:52.640 --> 0:22:54.119 in other parts of the world, just not here in 0:22:54.200 --> 0:22:56.720 North America, right, other parts of the world that don't 0:22:56.720 --> 0:22:59.840 have IDI salt. You know, dumb they are. Oh man, 0:23:00.600 --> 0:23:03.080 that was terrible. I'm just kidding. You need to apologize 0:23:03.080 --> 0:23:06.280 to the rest of the world. I'm sorry everybody. Uh So, 0:23:06.359 --> 0:23:09.560 like I said, table saw, this is the most common salt. Uh. 0:23:09.600 --> 0:23:13.159 They remove all the impurities. Um. They have things in 0:23:13.200 --> 0:23:15.920 there to make it not clump and stick together, and 0:23:16.000 --> 0:23:20.399 so it pours freely, so even when it rains, it pours. Well, 0:23:20.440 --> 0:23:22.200 should we get to that. Yeah, don't you have something 0:23:22.240 --> 0:23:24.600 on that? Yeah? The UM I just for some reason 0:23:24.640 --> 0:23:28.640 thought of the Morton salt girl, and like every great 0:23:28.640 --> 0:23:32.240 advertising story, they were like, how do we It was 0:23:32.280 --> 0:23:33.840 sort of a new thing at the time, in nineteen 0:23:33.880 --> 0:23:36.919 eleven two package salt this way in a container with 0:23:37.000 --> 0:23:40.159 a spout. How they package it before? I don't know, 0:23:40.680 --> 0:23:45.400