Shake it Like a Salt Shaker…

I’ve always had a thing for salt. I salt my food on occasion or consume high sodium foods like French Onion soup or I douse my rice with *gasp* soy sauce (ahhh, one of my favorites). As a college runner, I’d often pour the salt at the bottom of my pretzel bag straight in my mouth. And I’ll never forget the time one of my uncles scolded me for salting my food “that’s gonna catch up with you one day! You are going to get high blood pressure like the rest of us.”

So when I came across the food police’s dire (that’s CSPI or Center for Science in the Public Interest) warning about sodium intake and then CDC’s feature about sodium (http://www.cdc.gov/Features/Sodium/ <http://www.cdc.gov/Features/Sodium/), I was highly disappointed and dismayed at their lack of thoroughly and accurately communicating this topic to the public. Like many food ingredients, sodium, shouldn't be lumped into "good" or "bad" and that's exactly what both CSPI and CDC did.

According to both CSPI and the CDC, most American’s should consume less sodium. Along the lines of 1,500 mg or less per day (that is less than 1 tsp salt; my frozen veggies with cheese sauce from Green Giant tonight had about 1200 mg to give you some perspective). CDC listed three groups that should consume less sodium:

– If you are 40 years of age or older

– You are African American

– You have high blood pressure

And in general I agree with them about those groups. Some people are sodium sensitive and in these individuals, salt could contribute to their higher blood pressure (though it might not). And, for some reason, people of African American decent tend to have higher blood pressure.

There are two things they failed to mention. I’ve talked to people with high blood pressure who are so worried about sodium (thanks to messages like the ones from these two groups) that they are completely unaware of some of the other lifestyle factors they need to address to get their blood pressure under control. These include: 1) losing weight if you are overweight; 2) get active, either workout or get a pedometer and walk 10,000 steps a day; 3) quit smoking; and 4) moderate your alcohol consumption. You can cut salt out of your diet if you really want to but if you don’t follow those 4 steps, I am willing to bet your blood pressure will still be high.

The second glaringly obvious thing both groups left out (I admit I didn’t read the CSPI lawsuits and some of their other nonsense about this issue on their site) is that some people actually need more sodium. Yes, can you believe it. This “silent killer” as CSPI calls it is actually very important for many people. Today in fact I spoke to a classroom full of people and one lady piped in about how she had her thyroid taken out and was actually in the hospital with low iodine levels (supposedly a thing of centuries past thanks to iodized salt). She is African American (so she’d fit the CSPI and CDC guidance for consuming a low sodium diet) and has normal blood pressure. She craves salt sometimes. Is there a reason she should cut her sodium intake down? Absolutely not.

Aside from those with iodine balance issues, there are plenty of athletes out there who absolutely need more sodium. In fact, every year a few people die from hyponatremia (dangerously low blood sodium levels). When these athletes (or anyone really) overconsume water or sodium free fluids (like that time some radio station dared a woman to consume a ridiculous amount of water) and lose sodium through sweating, they are setting themselves up for hyponatremia.

Lastly, there are those of us who have low blood pressure. When I was in college and eating the salt from pretzel bags, there was a reason I was craving it, my blood pressure was often a bit too low. Running, sweating, consuming a bunch of water, heredity, whatever the combinations of reasons are, I can tell when my blood pressure gets too low. But, thanks to a wise doctor years ago who encouraged my desire to salt my foods, I rarely feel the effects of very low blood pressure these days. I’m wise enough to ignore blanket messages like these ones from CSPI and CDC and continue to consume salt or sodium-rich foods when I desire. And I certainly hope others take into consideration their own health history before drastically cutting their sodium intake. Oh, and my uncle, over-fat (especially in the abdominal area) and he doesn’t exercise. Sometimes you just shouldn’t blame heredity until you are doing everything right.