Earlier this year, I wrote an article titled A Diet that Could Save Your Life. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the Western world, and high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is a major risk factor for heart attacks and strokes, as well as other serious health problems. I described the DASH diet, which advocates limiting salt intake to lower blood pressure.

We have known for quite a while that excessive salt consumption is correlated with hypertension. More recently, research has shown that excessive salt consumption can harm us in more ways than merely raising our blood pressure. Even if blood pressure is not raised, salt can cause other problems that up until recently have not been thought to be associated with diet.

The amount of salt in our food affects the salt concentration on our gut after a meal. That change in environment affects the mix of microbes that inhabit our intestines. More specifically, it tends to reduce the concentration of helpful bacteria, and increase the concentration of harmful germs that can trigger the immune system. This can have the effect of disrupting the communication between the gut and the brain. The brain’s blood vessels can be compromised, affecting the health of the brain, leading to cognitive impairment, as well as Parkinson’s and other diseases. Waking up the immune system inappropriately when there is not a threat can also cause it to attack the gut itself, as with irritable bowel syndrome.

Autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and inflammatory bowel disease are no fun. Experiments with lab animals have shown that a high salt diet induces the animal equivalents of these diseases. Furthermore, the cognitive impairment observed in the animals on the high salt diet was reversed when they were returned to a low salt diet.

It makes sense to reduce salt consumption even if the only reason to do so is to reduce high blood pressure. Staving off these other serious diseases makes the argument to reduce salt consumption even more compelling.

There are two primary sources of salt in the Western diet, the white crystals that come out of the salt shaker, and the “invisible” salt that is included in almost all processed foods. To reduce the amount of salt in your diet, try the following:

• Take the salt shaker off the table. Resolve to learn to like unsalted food.
• Eat natural foods and avoid processed foods whenever possible.
• Use spices to season your food in place of salt.
• When cooking to a recipe, don’t include any salt that is called for.
• Read the Nutrition Facts of processed foods when buying groceries.

Even with your best efforts at avoiding salt intake, you are bound to consume much more than you need for good health. With the food system that we have today, salt cannot be completely eliminated from the modern Western diet. However, you can improve your chances for long term health by cutting out all the salt that you can.

Bio:

Allen G. Taylor is a 30-year veteran of the computer industry and the author of over 30 books, including Develop Microsoft HoloLens Apps Now, Get Fit with Apple Watch, Cruise for Free, SQL For Dummies, 8th Edition, Crystal Reports 2008 For Dummies, Database Development For Dummies, Access Power Programming with VBA, and SQL All-In-One For Dummies, Second Edition. He lectures internationally on astronomy, databases, innovation, and entrepreneurship. He also teaches database development and Crystal Reports through a leading online education provider. For the latest news on Allen’s activities, check out his blog at www.allengtaylor.com or contact him at allen.taylor@ieee.org.