Ordinarily, salt is very essential for our health, but should be taken in little quantities. Salt provides your body with sodium which is essential for your health, though too much can cause an imbalance in your health which can pose serious health risks.
Health experts maintain that we consume way too much sodium which is a natural component of many foods we eat. It is suggested that an average adult should consume less than 1g of salt daily and children should consume even lesser.
Below are some dangers of excessive salt intake everyone should be wary of.
1. STROKE
Excessive salt intake is a major cause of stroke. Stroke occurs when the blood supply to many parts of the brain is cut off, thereby reducing the supply of oxygen to the brain, and this would lead to the death of brain cells.
Excessive sodium intake would higher your blood pressure and in return make you more susceptible to stroke.
2. HIGH YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE
Being overweight and a lack of exercise can lead to a high blood pressure, but it doesn’t end with those two. Blood pressure is basically the amount of pressure that your blood puts on your blood vessel walls as it’s pumped around the body. Excessive salt intake can trigger you to have a higher blood pressure and many people aren’t even aware of this.
3. OBESITY
Salt intake wouldn’t directly cause weight gain but it can trigger you to become obese. Sodium attracts water which can make you thirstier; the problem starts with you being thirsty easily as it can cause you to take more sugary drinks which would cause you to gain more weight.
4. DIABETES
Doctors warn diabetic patients to lower their salt intake because salt can raise your blood pressure which can as well risk complications in diabetes.
5. OSTEOPOROSIS
Excessive salt intake has also been linked to osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a medical condition in which the bones become weak and break easily. Harvard experts suggest that excessive salt intake can make you susceptible to the illness as it would leach out calcium from your bones.
6. KIDNEY STONE
Excessive salt intake can cause you to have kidney stone and other kidney related diseases. Excessive salt intake which can cause high blood pressure can also cause calcium to build up in the kidney; it would cause the kidney to excrete too much calcium through the urine and this can cause a buildup of calcium and as well lead to kidney stone.
7. CHD AND OTHER HEART RELATED DISEASES
Salt can cause CHD which means Coronary Heart Disease, and this happens when there is a shortage in the heart’s blood supply. As you know by now, salt raises blood pressure which can trigger the occurrence of CHD and other heart related diseases. It can cause the walls of the blood vessels to become narrow and this would shorten the supply of blood to the heart — this is definitely dangerous.
Now you know the dangers of excessive salt intake. Always have these dangers in mind when you try to add that extra pinch of salt.
S.O.Z