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Salt is vital for the body’s nerves and muscles to function, excess salt intake can cause high blood pressure and raise the risk of deadly heart conditions. The NHS recommends adults eat no more than 6g of salt a day, eating less than this may cause light-head and muscle cramps. World Health Organisation WHO cautiously recommends less than 2g of sodium as a preventative measure against cardiovascular disease.
Salt is added to foods like bread, cakes and biscuits, to bring out the flavour and some foods can contain very high amounts of salt. To confuse the consumer, sometimes manufacturers will use sodium on the label instead of salt. The chemical name for salt is sodium chloride and as such contains both sodium and chloride. About 40 per cent of the weight of salt contains sodium, so you will need to multiply this amount by 2.5 to establish the actual salt content.
Salt is a crucial electrolyte that maintains the correct balance of fluids both within the cells and outside. Along with potassium, sodium from salt will ensure that nerve transmission, muscle contractions and many other functions can take place. The more sodium in the body, the more water it attracts and it is for this reason that too much salt can cause high blood pressure the more water the body retains in the blood, the more pressure within the body.
With high blood pressure, the heart has to work harder to ensure the blood is pumped around the body, causing increased strain on the arteries and organs in doing so. The balance of fluids and sodium in the body is crucial to homeostasis, which keeps systems operating in sync. When there is too much sodium in the system, the body retain excess fluid to balance out the salt.