I did some research online about sodium due to the fact that my sodium intake was so high yesterday. I found a thread on journalofhealthyliving.com under the title Why is Sodium Bad for you? The person (later identified as Jim) writes as follows: Sodium isn’t bad for, it’s just that we have begun eating far too much of it. The daily recommended amount is between 500 mg and 1000 mg, which equates to only about a half to one and a half teaspoons of table salt. It’s estimated that the average American consumes three to ten times that amount! So you can see, it’s not that sodium is bad for you, it’s that we have a bad sense of how much sodium is in our foods, a bad sense of how much we really need, and we are regularly exceeding daily amounts by a significant amount.
Now, onto why sodium is bad when you consume too much of it. Too much sodium increases your chances of developing high blood pressure, which leads to a whole host of problems including increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, and stroke. Those three things are pretty much game changers, if not career ending, type events.
So, limit your intake of processed foods and try to cook from scratch so you know what’s in your food. Check labels to ensure you aren’t eating something that totally loaded with sodium and you will be fine. A lot of soups and processed foods contain a ridiculous amount of sodium and even things that aren’t salty, like diet sodas, contain sodium. (Diet Dr. Pepper has 55 mg of sodium, which they claim is 2% of the daily recommended value; but is more like 5-10% based on scientific studies of sodium requirements).
A lot of people were asking for Jim's advice about their sodium intake. Maybe I wasn't looking hard enough, but I couldn't see a posting of Jim's credentials anywhere. One person, Laura, comments as follows: The adequate intake (AI) of sodium is 1,500mg/day NOT 500-1,000. This is the minimum amount you should consume each day. Even someone in the hospital on a sodium restricted diet is required to consume at least 1,500mg daily. The tolerable upper intake level (UL) is 2,300mg/day. This is the highest amount of sodium that should be consumed daily. The average American consumes 3,000-6,000mg daily.
In the body, water follows sodium. So, if you consume a lot of sodium, you will retain water. This will increase your blood volume and consequently your blood pressure.
I don't know Laura's credentials either, and maybe she is just quoting from another source, but, for some reason, she seems to be a better authority on this subject than Jim. Just a gut feel I have.
Another person, Tom, questions Jim's advice as well:
i am in the military, and i drink about a gallon of water a day. i am told to add a decent amount of salt to all of the food i eat. what is the direct relation between salt and water?
The following is a question and answer between someone and an actual doctor. I found this on en.allexperts.com. The expert answering the question is Thomas M. Manger, MD, PhD. The question was: My brother recently was in Korea and became ill. He had severe chest pains and shortness of breath. He collasped, was taken to the hospital and many test were run on him. Conclusion was his sodium and potasium levels were extremly low. Sodium was 110. Not sure what his potasium was. What caused this and where can we research it. He is physically fit. However stress has caused him to have high blood pressure. He consumes 2-3 liters of water daily, and drinks large quantities of lite beer. These are the only liquids he consumes. The only medication he takes is blood pressure medicine, and occasional tylenol .
The doctor responds as follows: Your brother is drinking too much water. Depending on the type of BP medication he is on, his kidneys may not be able to remove all the water he drinks, and so his sodium level goes down. Without knowing anything further, I would suggest he limit his water intake to less than 1.5 L a day and to stop his beer.
My husband is a Marine. He told me that they were all given sodium pills to make sure their sodium wasn't too low. It seems that too low sodium can be just as dangerous (if not more) as too high sodium.
Therefore, I stand by my previous non-medical conclusion, and that is, in a healthy person, our bodies automatically dilute excess sodium intake by making us thirsty. As we can see above, the brother had too low sodium from drinking too much water.
I guess I'll end with a quote from the Sprite people, "Obey your thirst!"
No comments:
Post a Comment