Salt

Normal Salt

Salt, sodium chloride, is one of the essential minerals our body needs. It is recommended that we consume about 6g of salt per day, but a large majority of people in developed countries are exceeding this limit. However, too much salt can cause bodily harm. Overeating or under eating salt can lead to muscle cramps and dizziness. However, sodium deficiency can lead to hyponatremia, which is also known as water intoxication. This leads to electrolyte disturbance. (Reuben, 2004)Another health risk that salt brings is hypertension. Hypertension, high blood pressure, can be caused by excessive amounts of sodium in food. Fast foods are ranked among the highest in terms of sodium content.
Ever felt really thirsty after eating salty food? This is because salt causes water retention in your body. Too much salt can put extra burden on your kidneys and can also cause diabetes in the long run.
Salt is made up of two elements, sodium and chloride. Sodium is damaging to our body when excess is consumed, and the potassium to sodium ratio is disrupted. (Likness, 2007) This is the reason why many food labels only list sodium content, instead of salt content. The recommended daily intake of sodium is not more than 2400mg. Many people often exceed this daily limit.

Advanced Salt

Sodium chloride is commonly put into our food as a food additive that helps to bring out flavor. Dr Gary Beauchamp also notes that salt partially suppresses other tastes, thus reducing mild bad tastes. When added to food, it causes the food to have more mouth feel, making it feel thicker and drier. It also increases the feeling of sweetness of the food.
High levels of salt can also cause your stomach lining to wear down, possibly leading to stomach cancer. Some symptoms of stomach cancer are vomiting blood, loss of appetite, bloating of the stomach after eating, and diarrhea. Stomach cancer can also lead to anemia if there is severe internal bleeding.
Magnesium is an important micronutrient that is critical in glucose homeostasis by affecting insulin secretion and action. Calcium/magnesium imbalance is one of the observed effects of factors causing insulin resistance (Cosford, 1999). Sodium causes loss of magnesium and by causing a calcium/magnesium imbalance, it results in insulin resistance. Insulin resistance causes weight gain and can lead to type 2 diabetes.
This is not the only use of salt in food. Salt is also used as a preservative. Salt causes the water concentration of the surrounding environment to decrease, thus causing osmosis to occur. This results in the dehydration of the bacteria cells. A side effect of this is that the cells of the food are also dehydrated, causing the food to taste very dry.