Dear All,

Unfortunately, processed food (mainly meat products) contains too much salt. This is because salt can take an enormous quantity of water and thus we pay for salted water instead of ham, bacon, salami etc. Thus my first suggestion is to decrease the processed food in your diet. Generally, salt in foods prepared traditionally do not cause too much trouble as Ljubomir put it.

 Numerous studies show that there is a positive relationship between hypertension and salt intake. Sodium is usually present in the food items, but since the last few decades processed and junk foods are more consumed which are rich in sodium. Normal adult person 5-10 gm common salt are required. We should modify our lifestyle, so that we use sodium (1gm salt contains 400 mgm. sodium) as require,and it is cost effective way to prevent or control hypertension.

On average, people in the UK eat about 8.1g of salt (3.2g sodium) a day. This may not sound like much, but to reduce the risk of disease, adults should not be eating more than 6g of salt (2.4g sodium) a day.

Salt levels should be much lower than this for babies and children. Babies should have less than 1g of salt a day. The daily recommended maximum amount of salt children should eat depends on their age: 

1 to 3 years – 2g of salt a day (0.8g sodium)

4 to 6 years – 3g of salt a day (1.2g sodium)

7 to 10 years – 5g of salt a day (2g sodium)

11 years and over – 6g of salt a day (2.4g sodium)

As a rough guide:

a high amount of salt is more than 1.5g for 100g (0.6g sodium)

a low amount of salt is 0.3g for 100g (0.1g sodium)

http://www.nhs.uk/chq/pages/1138.aspx?CategoryID=51

Salt has to be as little as possible.

Salt that will not dissolve has a tendency to collect in body organs. Use this test to determine if salt has been processed. Mix a spoonful of salt in a glass of water and let stand overnight. If the salt collects on the bottom of the glass, it has been processed. Natural salt will dissolve.

Dear @Sundar, "...a meta-analysis of seven studies involving a total of 6,250 subjects in the American Journal of Hypertension found no strong evidence that cutting salt intake reduces the risk for heart attacks, strokes or death in people with normal or high blood pressure....These findings call into question the common wisdom that excess salt is bad for you, but the evidence linking salt to heart disease has always been tenuous...."

Personally, I do use more salt than it was recommended by my physician, but I do not have any problems!

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-the-war-on-salt/

Dear All for me as minimum as it could be. In our country we have a saying that once we eat or taste salt from some one than one must be loyal to him. here quantity never  matters. Thanks

Dear Sarwan Kumar Dubey- "Namak-Halal" (नमक हलाल) is the word used! [Namak = Salt and Halaal = Very faithful].

Best wishes, Sundar

Sodium chloride is sodium chloride, independently from its source. It will be dissolved in water if it is processed or unprocessed, only the other minerals (from unprocessed) can deposit after dissolution.  Salt from the sea, salts from the mines is the same compound, only the impurities are different in them, because the salt from mines contains more pure NaCl (The others salts will be crystallized out at the surface, e.g. K-salts). It is not a question, some amount of NaCl  needs for the human organ, too much amount is not  healthy, but when somebody counts the daily intake amount, it should be taken into consideration the amounts of sodium salts in bred and other daily foods as well which are latent sodium content.  A balance is important, not only in the absolute amount but in ratio to other food components.

Dear All,

Unfortunately, processed food (mainly meat products) contains too much salt. This is because salt can take an enormous quantity of water and thus we pay for salted water instead of ham, bacon, salami etc. Thus my first suggestion is to decrease the processed food in your diet. Generally, salt in foods prepared traditionally do not cause too much trouble as Ljubomir put it.

Dear András,

your proposal is the best technique to control NaCl. But not only this salt, but also all the other unwanted but hidden components and additives. Cook yourself and use fresh ingredients, preferably natural. I mean the original salat, potato, tomato, rice... No need for industrial ready to eat products.

When I was in USA, I used "Morton Salt" for cooking.. It has a very good taste..

Yes dear Roland, that´s exactly the meaning of my tips above. Eat naturally with balanced cooking and eating. Our body is not so silly not to show us reaction. Our brain may be to silly to understand this signals! Extrem thurst, dry lips, hunger for some thing sweet, need to eat a piece of salami etc etc....

Just ask your doctor!

In a foreign visit, I bought some salted peanuts, and after returning to India, I felt that it was too salty for me. Now, plain peanuts (without any salt) are available in India, and I am slowly converting to take food items with no or very less salt only! Thanks, Sundar

Dear Sundar,

This question falls to the ones that we know the answer! It is now a common believe that salt is not good. Especially as we grow older the salt should be step-by-step minimised. There are some salt substitutes that seems to work nicely! 

Of course if you ask your doctor his answer is also known: Cut the salt completely!

I think that everything is needed. So the problem is to find the wise equilibrium that woks for you!

I wish you to find such wise decision in 2015! :)

Chemically the common salt we use is a compound called sodium chloride, with the formula NaCl. Sodium chloride consists of 40% sodium and 60% chlorine. According to the American Heart Association (AHA)1, sodium consumption should not exceed 1.5g per day (3.75g of salt), and that even includes healthy people without high blood pressure, diabetes or cardiovascular diseases.

If we do not consume sufficient sodium, our metabolism, driven by specific feedback mechanisms, goes into a sodium-sparing mode so that the circulatory system can maintain osmotic balance and adequate blood pressure. This has several important consequences for us. A reduced intake of sodium is characterized by the stimulation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone hormonal system (RAAS). Renin, the first enzyme taking part in the RAAS was clearly shown in a dose-response curve1 to increase as sodium intakes fell below 150 mmol sodium (or 1.5 teaspoons/8 grams of salt) per day. At a point of intake below 110 mmol (6 grams) sodium per day renin begins to rise rapidly. The RAAS feedback mechanism is the most transparent measure of our dose response to salt intake and is a fundamental indicator of sodium intake sufficiency.

http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/abcs-of-nutrition/salt-and-our-health/

The recommended amount per day is between 1500 mg - 2300 mg for people 9 -50 years of age. For people over 50 years of age, an adequate intake drops to 1300 mg per day until 70 and then 1200 mg over 70 years of age.

Dear Yogesh & Krishnan - Kindly try taking food without salt (once in a while) - You may like it! I take pop corn, puffed rice etc without salt only

There is one temple in India called "Uppili Appan temple" (Vishnu temple near Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu), where only salt-less food is offered to God, and then to devotees!

With best wishes, Sundar

Dear Sundar what about sugar?

Dear Prof. Costas: Only your doctor can give right info about how much sugar is good for you. For people with normal health, moderate amount of sugar is good. For people with diabetes, less sugar is usually recommended by dieticians. Regards, Sundar

@ Yogesh, Sundar, Costas

I dont add extra salt in my food. Even Yogurt (curd) i take it blunt; but butter-milk with small amount of salt.

When I was in Bangalore, i got to take curd with sugar; and when in Indore Lassi (salted and Sugar).

All these are good for taste buds, once in a while. otherwise, we may forget the senses of tasting.

I prefer Coffee without sugar ( just thought of @ Kamal's coffee cup in one of the earlier posts in another question.

Dear Prof. Krishnan: I take green tea with little or no sugar, but I am shocked to learn that you take coffee without sugar!! In USA, I have seen people taking Starbucks Coffee (in a BIG mug) with generous amount of sugar,and also with some butter cookies or donuts, which also carry some sugar. Talking about donuts, I am very fond of coconut-donuts. Best wishes, Sundar

@ Sundar

Right from my schooling days, my mom will give a glass of milk without sugar. Got used to it. Initially i used to grudge those days, later when i grew up, I started tasting tea and coffee at workplace. Over a period of time, i experimented to taste tea and Coffee blunt  with milk (no sugar). Today I enjoy hot black tea and coffee (no milk and sugar). Sipping through steaming coffee and breathing it refreshes....

There is definitely a consensus among organizations including United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), American Heart Association (AHA), Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND, American Diabetes Association (ADA) & WHO that we should limit our sodium intake to 1500 mg day and definitely not more than 2300 mg. However, the average intake of sodium is about 3400 mg, most of it coming from processed foods. Sodium is a crucial electrolyte in the body. Many foods contain small amounts of sodium naturally, but most of the sodium in the diet comes from salt. Sodium binds water and maintains intracellular and extracellular fluids in the right balance and along with potassium helps maintain electrical gradients across cell membranes, which are critical for nerve transmission, muscular contraction, and various other functions in the body. The more sodium we have in our bloodstream, the more water it binds. For this reason, sodium is thought to increase blood pressure. High blood pressure is a major risk factor for many serious diseases, like heart disease, stroke and kidney failure. Through it is true that reducing sodium can lower blood pressure, but as evident from various reports, the effect isn’t as strong as we may think. So the key question is, if there are benefits to sodium restriction, are they important enough to be worth the obvious reduction in pleasure we will derive from our foods?