Vim & Vigor - Spring 2014 - Gwinnett Medical Center - (Page 40)

DROWNING IN SALT SALT IS HARMFUL BECAUSE IT HOLDS ON TO WATER, 40 SPRING 2 014 THE UPSIDE OF SALT Salt isn't all bad. In fact, we need salt in our bodies. It's a vital mineral our body cannot manufacture itself, so we rely on food to provide it. Salt maintains the ﬂuid balance in the body, Larson explains, assisting with nerve impulse transmission and muscle contraction. Salt's chloride ions help regulate blood volume, blood pressure and the pH of body ﬂuids. Too little salt in the body can lead to the potentially fatal, but rare, condition called hyponatremia, which is most often found in athletes, such as marathon runners, who take in too much water and overdilute the sodium content in the body. "Sodium attracts and holds on to water," Larson says. "So, people who take in too much salt retain water, their blood volume increases and the heart works harder." WHERE'S IT COMING FROM? We don't necessarily need to add salt to anything, since salt naturally occurs in a lot of the foods we eat. Most unprocessed ﬁsh and meat contains less than 120 mg of sodium per serving, meaning the U.S. Food and Drug Administration classiﬁes them as lowsodium foods. For instance, 3 ounces of unprocessed salmon or cod contains between 56 mg and 89 mg of sodium. Shellﬁsh has some of the highest naturally occurring salt content. Raw scallops contain 333 mg of sodium in 3 ounces. Whole-grain foods are on the low side. One cup of cooked brown rice has just 10 mg of sodium, and one cup of air-popped popcorn has 1 mg of sodium. (Beware of movie theater popcorn, which not only has plenty of salt but also might be smothered in fatty butter.) Some fresh fruits and vegetables contain sodium and some do not. Carrots, for instance, will give you 76 mg of sodium per cup while an apple has just 1 mg. One cup of cooked Swiss chard has 313 mg of sodium, while a cup of cucumbers contains 2 mg. But beware of canned veggies: A cup of cooked fresh spinach has 126 mg of sodium versus 746 mg in a cup of canned spinach. You might be surprised where your salt is coming from. Watch that Swiss chard-but FEEL FREE TO INDULGE IN AIR-POPPED POPCORN. PHOTOGRAPHY BY THINKSTOCK increasing blood volume and making your heart work harder. U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend we limit our salt intake to 2,300 milligrams a day, max. And for certain groups at higher risk of heart disease-those older than 50, blacks, or individuals with chronic kidney disease, high blood pressure or diabetes-1,500 mg a day is more than enough. Unfortunately, says Kim Larson, a registered dietitian and a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, most of us are soaring right past those guidelines, blissfully unaware that we're taking in an average of 3,400 mg of sodium a day. "It's easy to see why," Larson says. "More than 70 percent of our salt comes from processed, packaged foods." These American staples of speedy lunchgrabbing and dinner-making may be our No. 1 enemy in the ﬁght against heart disease. But that doesn't mean our saltshaker gets a full reprieve. "I think it would be a great idea to take the saltshaker off the table," Larson says. "That's probably the number-two way in which we increase the salt in our diet."

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Spring 2014 - Gwinnett Medical Center

Vim & Vigor - Spring 2014 - Gwinnett Medical Center
Contents
Phil’s Feature
Staying Ahead of Concussions
The Recovery Zone
Occupational Hazards
The New Rules of Play
Shopping for Two
Back to Basics
Burn, Baby, Burn
Angelina Jolie
Rock Your Health
Breaking Up with Salt
Disgusting! (or Not?)
Virtual Health
PrimeTime Health
Ready, Set, Run!
You Can Change the World
Out of the White Coat
Transforming Healthcare

Vim & Vigor - Spring 2014 - Gwinnett Medical Center