Background
briefing material: General Press Release
concerning
Since the end of the seventies the authorities in most industrialised countries have repeatedly recommended to change the eating habits to consume less salt. This is in line with similar recommendations to reduce, e.g. the consumption of fat and sugar.
In between, however, research results have been published which conclude that salt is not harmful after all.
The background for these opposite statements is, that it is not harmful to all people to consume the same quantity of salt. Up to 20% of the population, i.e. almost one in five, reacts to salt by an increase in the blood pressure, whereas salt does not have any measurable effect on the remaining part of the population, who therefore does not have to pay attention to the salt consumption. Salt can thus provoke or increase the blood pressure for some but far from all.
Whether you belong to the risk group, who is disposed for increased blood pressure, and who should therefore reduce the salt consumption could possibly be related to the genetic disposition. If your parents have increased blood pressure, you might expect a higher probability for being genetically disposed. Furthermore overweight, large consumption of alcohol as well as psychological and nutrition factors can influence and provoke an increased blood pressure.
If you are in the risk group, a reduction of the salt consumption can help preventing that a high blood pressure develops. If the blood pressure is already increased, a significant reduction of the salt consumption could contribute to the treatment. In all circumstances it will be prudent to use less salt in the cooking and on the table, and to eat less processed food with high content of salt - the content of sodium can be read from the ingredients declaration on the food labels.
Ordinary salt is the same as sodium chloride. In ordinary salt (sodium chloride) the content of sodium is app. 39%. For the risk group it is the content of sodium in salt that is problematic nutritionally.
When the blood pressure is measured, the result is expressed by 2 figures of which the highest (the systolic pressure) measures the blood pressure when the blood is being pumped out of the heart. The lower figure (the diastolic pressure) measures the blood pressure in the rest period between the heartbeats, when the heart ventricles are being filled with blood. The United Nations Health Organisation (WHO) has defined different levels or blood pressure: For a healthy, younger adult the blood pressure will typically be 120/80 (expressed as 120 over 80), but up to 140/90 is considered normal. Pressures from 140/90 to 160/95 are considered as a tendency to high blood pressure, whereas results above 160/95 are considered high blood pressure.
High blood pressure increases the risk of cardiac vascular illnesses because the condition accelerates hardening of the arteries with, a.o., consequent risk of angina pectoris, infarct of the heart muscle, stroke.
Treatment and preventive measures against high blood pressure - which is also called hypertension - are therefore of great importance, especially among elderly people, and most often good results are obtained with prolonged life time from effective treatment. Positive contributions can also be obtained from life style changes such as: weight reduction, reduction of alcohol consumption, reduction of salt consumption, relaxation and stop of smoking.
It has been established that app. 10% of the population of the industrialised countries have high blood pressure as defined by WHO and a further 10% has a tendency. It is thus a significant part of the population who is or should be aware of the blood pressure.
It is only in a few cases (5-10%) that hypertension is caused by an actual illness such as a kidney disorder or similar. In most cases the cause of the hypertension is "unknown" that means that it is not caused by a specific illness, but instead the attention is focused on risk factors such as: overweight, excessive alcohol consumption, excessive salt consumption by predisposed individuals, stress and type of personality.
With the negative press which salt has had it has almost been forgotten that salt is a vital element for the growth and development of animals and human beings. Salt is also of vital importance for several of the physiological functions of the body.
We are therefore not able to do without salt, but we need a lot less than what we get in our daily food. It is not unusual that we get a total of 10-15 g of salt per day and the fact is that we only need app. 5 g. For healthy individuals this is not a problem because the body automatically excretes the excessive salt not needed through the urine and sweat. But for individuals in the risk group a high salt consumption can result in the serious problems mentioned earlier.
About 40% of the salt that we consume originate from the industrially processed foods, of which meat, bakery and dairy products are the primary sources of salt. But salt is necessary and is used in the production of most processed foods either for taste, preservation or production reasons. Another 40% of our total salt consumption we add ourselves in the households when cooking the food or at the table. The remaining 20% of the salt consumption are naturally present in the raw materials of the food we eat.
When we eat out, the salt level is often high in fast food and in ethnic food like Chinese and Mexican.
The part of the salt consumption that is the easiest to control is of course the salt that we add ourselves in the households. We can get used to add a good deal less salt, but again we have to use some as otherwise the taste of the food becomes flat and boring - and in some cases completely un-eatable.
Another - or supplementary - way of reducing the salt consumption significantly is to use a sodium reduced salt like, e.g. a mineral salt instead of ordinary salt. A mineral salt contains besides salt (sodium chloride) other vital minerals such as potassium and magnesium etc.
One of the most interesting of these mineral salt products is a special sea salt which is prepared in accordance with a new, patented method whereby the sodium chloride is reduced by 60%. Instead of the sodium chloride, this special sea salt contains 60% potassium and magnesium minerals from the seawater as well as a wide range of micro minerals (trace minerals) which also occur naturally in sea water. As these minerals are vital for the functions of the body, they are essential in the nutrition and therefore add greatly to the major benefit of this salt which is the reduced sodium.
This
MineralSeaSalt is produced in
Besides the salt which we add to our food in the household, we are also consuming salt when we eat industrially prepared foods as most of these contain sodium chloride for taste or preservation reasons. To accommodate the growing consumer concern of the sodium intake and to provide them with a choice, several industrial food processors are already making or are considering to make products with reduced sodium content.
For the modern consumer, the main sources of sodium from the industrially prepared foods are the bread, meat and dairy food products. These, and most other food products, can be manufactured with reduced sodium - and with the normal taste and preservation properties retained -when a MineralSeaSalt like the new Icelandic SeaSalt is used to replace the ordinary sodium chloride.
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