Sodium chloride

• Table salt : The common white salt you’re use to. Table salt is only sodium and chloride, usually mined from rock salt or seawater. It then has the other naturally occurring minerals stripped from it, which are often sold to vitamin companies at a premium price.This refining results in a bitter taste, which is one reason for the fillers, including dextrose (good old corn sugar). Anti-caking agents are also usually added, and it’s sprayed with synthetic iodine to make up for the minerals taken out. (More below) Any anti-caking agent serves to prevent absorption of water, which defeats salt’s purpose to help our bodies retain water. They’re not good for us!
• Sea salt : The label “sea salt” feels to me more of a marketing campaign strategy to convince people to pay a higher price for “health food” than a helpful statement of truth. Again, since all sodium chloride ultimately came from a sea at some point, all salt is sea salt. The common white sea salt sold for 2-3x the price of iodized table salt is refined in a similar way to table salt, removing most of the minerals in the process. White sea salt is no healthier than table salt, and is lacking the iodine that your body does need.
• Unrefined sea salt : Harvested sea salt that is not refined actually has over 60 different minerals in it (instead of TWO). As usual, when we take something out of a natural food product, we end up with problems (see below on high blood pressure). Unrefined salt will usually be colorful, with shades of pink, brown, or grey, depending on the source. Some brands that help you make sure you’re getting real, unrefined sea salt include Real Salt, Celtic Sea Salt, and Himalayan Salt. The bottom line is that real, unrefined sea salt provides a natural balance of minerals that keeps us healthy instead of making us sick.

Mineral Content

See also :

• Sodium
• Potassium
• Iodine
• Salt Therapy
• Lavana

Special Precautions of Sodium chloride

• Your body has its own way of regulating sodium and chloride. Excess amounts of these compounds are usually expelled in the urine. But of course when you really overload on regular table salt, you could give your kidneys too much to handle. Those already suffering some kind of renal disease have to drastically reduce salt in their diet.
• Increase in blood pressure. People with hypertension are always advised to lessen eating of salty foods and other dishes that contain a lot of sodium. Strokes and cardiovascular diseases are the other associated conditions. Important factor is the potassium to sodium ratio of your diet. Imbalance in this ratio can not only lead to hypertension (high blood pressure) but also contribute to a number of other diseases, including:
• Hypernatremia is the condition where there’s more sodium than water in your body. Hyponatremia is just the opposite. Both are dangerous and can occur if you don’t properly rehydrate after a lot heavy physical activity.
• Cancer : There is also some research which suggests that salt intake may cause stomach cancer only in those who have both Helicobacter pylori infection and have been exposed to a chemical carcinogen. A lack of iodine in the diet can cause hypothyroidism, and there is some concern it may increase the risk of thyroid cancer.

Health benefits of Sodium chloride

As vital as it is, the human body needs only very little salt. Too little salt can be just as bad as too much. Both lead to cases of electrolyte imbalance. The daily upper limit for adults is around 2,300 milligrams. For those aged 51 years and above, it should be just 1,500 mg. For children it’s even less with the limit set at 1,000 mg a day. Important factor is also the potassium to sodium ratio of your diet. Imbalance in this ratio can not only lead to hypertension (high blood pressure) but also contribute to a number of other diseases, including:

• necessary to retain hydration, the reason why salt is in things like Gatorade and other electrolyte drinks * to treat patients suffering from dehydration, diarrhea, etc.
• regulates blood sugar, important for diabetics not to have low salt intake. Salt aids blood sugar control by improving insulin sensitivity. A low-salt diet increases insulin resistance and even moderate dietary salt restriction is shown to cause systemic insulin resistance.
• contributes to a healthy thyroid because of iodine
• a natural antihistamine. A pinch of salt sprinkled on the tongue may help improve an allergic reaction or an asthma attack.
• to maintain the proper stomach pH. Stomach acid is hydrochloric acid and salt is sodium chloride. Proper stomach acid levels are absolutely foundational for good digestion, but 90% of Americans have low stomach acid.
• Exercise : One of the possible reasons why your muscles feel really weak or why you may experience extreme muscle contraction after an intense exercise is because you’ve lost a lot of sodium or other electrolytes through sweat.
• Salt lowers adrenaline spikes. Adrenaline is a necessary and important stress hormone, but it is just that… a stress hormone. When adrenaline patterns are out of rhythm, it takes a toll on the body. Interestingly, if you often wake up with your heart pounding between 2 and 4 AM, it is probably because of an adrenaline spike. The most important change is to reduce both physical and mental stress, as well as eating a healthy diet. But one immediate fix to help you go back to sleep is just a pinch of salt and sugar (or salt and honey, if you prefer) sprinkled on the tongue to calm the adrenaline peak.
• Salt improves sleep quality. It boasts anti-stress and anti-excitatory qualities due to its suppression of stress hormones and it increasing of the metabolic rate. This may explain why many people report that a low sodium diet interferes with sleep and an adequate amount of dietary salt improves sleep quality.
• Encourages a healthy weight and fast metabolism. First, one study showed that increased salt intake leads to an increase in the elimination of cortisol and lower blood cortisol levels. Imbalanced or excess cortisol means weight gain and a stagnant metabolism.
• Supports thyroid function by reducing circulating stress hormones. For example, cortisol is anti-thyroid, but salt combats excess cortisol.
• supports hyperosmolarity of the extracellular fluid. Slight hyperosmolarity–more solutes in the extracellular fluid than in the cell–actually increases the cell’s metabolic rate. That means salt can speed up your metabolism! On the other hand, when the extracellular fluid is hypo-osmotic in relation to the cell, it impairs the breakdown of proteins and glucose and thereby lowers the cell’s metabolism.
• Increased sodium intake also correlates with increased thermogenesis–heat production by the body (the study is here).
• Adequate salt supports balanced hormones. Hormone and nutrition researcher Ray Peat explains the correlation between the salt-regulating hormone aldosterone and mineral loss: One of the things that happen when there isn’t enough sodium in the diet is that more aldosterone is synthesized. Aldosterone causes less sodium to be lost in the urine and sweat, but it achieves that at the expense of the increased loss of potassium, magnesium, and probably calcium… Magnesium deficiency is extremely common, but a little extra salt in the diet makes it easier to retain the magnesium in our foods.