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Salt not as damaging to health as previously thought, says study

theguardian.com

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Re: Salt not as damaging to health as previously thought, says study

#31

Post by JeanMarcS »

During the heat wave in France this summer, messages to old persons were to drink regularly (which sometimes they forget)

So a quarter of medical consultations related to elders and heat was for a lack of salt [0]. From Google translate it’s call hyponatremia.

So as stated in other comments, moderation, may be, lack, bad idea.

I’m actually in Ireland. They seem to have taken the salt part very seriously, as everything need to be resalted (for me and my family). But everything is over sugared.

[0] https://www.nouvelobs.com/societe/20180806.OBS0591/canicule-... (in French)

Edit : typos

Re: Salt not as damaging to health as previously thought, says study

#32

Post by PunchTornado »

I guess just eating what you like and enjoy your life is the only sensible advice you can get.

Don't exaggerate with anything: sugar, salt, alcohol, have them in moderation, like exercise and you'll be fine.

Also a must: stop reading nutrition science.

Re: Salt not as damaging to health as previously thought, says study

#33

Post by GW150914 »

castratikron wrote: post #9

Salt in itself may not be bad. But salt makes food taste better, which tends to make people eat more, which causes people to gain weight. And being overweight brings with it health issues. It's the second order effects that you need to be aware of when asking if something is "good" or "bad".

I stopped eating potato chips by switching to salty pretzels. I don’t feel an urge to overeat pretzels, they’re low in fat, and still give me the salt-crunch I’m looking for. I also find vegan/vegetarian cooking a lot easy to accept if it’s properly seasoned. When you take something out of a food, people tend to replace it with something else because (surprise!) they like appealing food. Take out fat, add in sugar, and that’s no good. Take out salt, add in fat and potassium, the fat isn’t great, and the K will screw over people with bad kidneys,

Be wary of “that one bad thing” which is then summarily replaced.

Re: Salt not as damaging to health as previously thought, says study

#34

Post by agumonkey »

maxxxxx wrote: post #17

As with almost everything else moderation is key. Some salt is good, too much is bad. The question is where you are on that scale.

Yeah, moderation, diversity too, read that processed foods having a narrow spectrum of molecules may lead to poor gut flora (or excessive selection of some families)

Seems to me that geometrical optimization based medicine is poor, we were born in and out of complexity, we feed on it.

Re: Salt not as damaging to health as previously thought, says study

#36

Post by quakenul »

cies wrote: post #28
barking wrote: post #22

I remember when butter was bad for you and my dad, who was great butter lover switched to a particular type of margarine that was marketed as being good for you. Later it turned out it had the wrong sort of fats in it. Then later again butter became OK again.

AFAIK, butter is still worse then no butter (and more calories from whole plant foods instead). Margarine may or may not be worse than butter (I think it is worse). It is better to avoid/reduce all refined fats (oils), except maybe for a high DHA omega 3 supplement. If you want to eat for health, look into WFPB, they have a lot of science on their side.

Getting definitive information on nutrition always seems to be a lot harder than it should be in 2018

Re: Salt not as damaging to health as previously thought, says study

#38

Post by maxxxxx »

vecinu wrote: post #35
maxxxxx wrote: post #17

As with almost everything else moderation is key. Some salt is good, too much is bad. The question is where you are on that scale.

I think the real question is what is too much? Everyone has different needs / capacities.

Correct. There is no simple answer.

Re: Salt not as damaging to health as previously thought, says study

#39

Post by aetherson »

trukterious wrote: post #26
castratikron wrote: post #9

Salt in itself may not be bad. But salt makes food taste better, which tends to make people eat more, which causes people to gain weight. And being overweight brings with it health issues. It's the second order effects that you need to be aware of when asking if something is "good" or "bad".

Hear hear. Also I'd bet that a given quantity of salt sprinked on french fries raises the blood pressure more than the same amount dissolved in a glass of water accompanying unsalted fries. Wonder if anyone has tested this (or similar)?

How much would you bet on that?

Re: Salt not as damaging to health as previously thought, says study

#40

Post by paavoova »

killjoywashere wrote: post #6
blattimwind wrote: post #2

Nutrition "science" caught again perpetuating findings based in assumption and hitting the data until it fits, not solid research? Oh no, nobody could've expected that... also "scientists who are on a crusade to reduce our salt consumption to near zero". Like pope Urban II always said, no better place to do sound research than on a crusade.

Salt increases intravascular osmolarity, which increases water retention to correct the osmolarity. This is freshman inorganic chemistry. There's plenty of biomedical science behind renal pathophysiology and the link between salt and blood pressure is as close to an if-then statement as there is in medicine. We use all sorts of drugs and methods to play with this central mechanism and can observe the effects in real…

Doesn't potassium work similarly then?
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