Don’t Pass The Salt
According to a report issued last week by the World Health Organization, humans are consuming too much salt in their diet. The result, Leo Sands says , is a higher risk of disease and premature death: Eating too much salt is one of the causes of cardiovascular disease, which kills an estimated 17.9 million people each year, according to the WHO. It can also lead to strokes, which kill 5 million people each year globally — and other serious medical conditions. When we talk about dietary salt we’re really talking about sodium, an essential nutrient required by the body’s cells to function efficiently. Simple table salt is one source of dietary sodium, but there are others, the CDC explains : Though the words “salt” and “sodium” are often used interchangeably, they are not the same. “Salt” is sodium chloride which is table salt. Sodium chloride is 40% sodium and 60% chloride. One teaspoon of table salt contains about 2,400 mg of sodium. Sodium is a mineral found in...