Too Much Salt Is Bad For The Brain and Heart

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Rock, sea, Himalayan pink — salt is the most central ingredient in our kitchens. A savory meal without the white stuff is unthinkable. And not even chocolate is safe because good chefs know that sweet with a dash of salt brings out the flavor that much more.

Yes, food tastes better when sprinkled with salt, the magic crystalline mineral. It’s hardly surprising, given that it is one of the five basic human tastes: sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami. And yet, the magic stuff that titillates our taste buds is also frequently referred to as a “silent killer”. A major contributor to hypertension, salt is linked to 2.3 million deaths worldwide.

The World Health Organization recommends that people not consume more than 5 grams of salt per day. To put that into context, a 200-gram tub of Pringles Salt & Vinegar has 4.6 grams of salt. Bad news for those who love to snack. And as if high blood pressure wasn’t bad enough, new research reveals that eating too much salt could also cause dementia.

So what makes salt unhealthy?

It’s the sodium contained in salt that’s harmful in excess. Standard table salt is approximately 60% chloride and 40% sodium. The human body needs sodium for healthy nerve function and muscle action. But too much sodium causes our bodies to retain more fluids. Consequently, blood…