Questions and Answers About Salt: You Should Know That

How much salt is still healthy or what does “salt sensitive” mean? And what are the consequences if I eat too much salt? Find answers to these questions in this article.

The essentials in brief:

• As an adult, you should not eat more than one teaspoon (6 grams) of salt per day.
• Most Germans eat more salt than the recommended amount.
• If you consume too much salt over a long period of time, you risk high blood pressure.
• Most salt is in processed foods such as bread, sausage, cheese and convenience products.

How much salt does the body need?

Table salt consists of sodium and chloride. As important electrolytes, they are involved, together with other minerals, in the regulation of water balance and blood pressure. Sodium is also important for the transmission of stimuli and thus also for the function of the muscles. Chloride is a component of gastric acid. A table salt intake of 1.4 grams is estimated as the minimum daily salt intake. Sodium and chloride are found in drinking water and are natural components of vegetables, fruit and animal products. However, we absorb by far the largest amount through table salt.

How much salt is still healthy?

The German Society for Nutrition recommends a maximum of 6 grams of salt per day for adults. This amount is about one teaspoon. The World Health Organization (WHO) even recommends just 5 grams of salt per day. Even lower values ​​apply to children in accordance with their lower body weight and energy requirements .

How much table salt do Germans currently consume?

On average, men eat 10.0 grams and women 8.4 grams of salt a day. Around half of men and more than a third of women consume more than 10 grams of salt every day. Even children and young people often eat too many salty foods.

What are the health consequences of too much salt?

Eat something very salty and you will get thirsty. This is a protective measure by the body to dilute the salt levels in the blood. Because salt binds water. If you take in a lot of salt and drink too little, the salt draws water out of the body cells. In order to maintain the optimal salt concentration in the blood, the amount of liquid is also increased.

This initially increases the amount of blood. The tissue fluid between the cells increases. The larger amounts of liquid put a strain on the heart and kidneys. In salt-sensitive people, this can increase blood pressure. This in turn damages the blood vessels in important organs such as the heart and brain. Salt can cause high blood pressure. Heart attack or stroke can be the result.

Studies to the contrary, which are supposed to show that low salt consumption is associated with higher mortality, are strongly criticized by experts. Without a doubt, there is no danger in Germany that we eat too little salt. However, large-scale studies clearly show that the less salt a society consumes, the lower the blood pressure levels and the fewer heart attack and stroke victims there are.

How common is high blood pressure?

From a value of 140 / 90 mm Hg and higher, a doctor speaks of high blood pressure (hypertension). According to a study by the Robert Koch Institute, around a third of adults in Germany suffer from it. Optimal blood pressure values ​​are below 120/80 mm Hg. The range between 120/80 and 140/90 is referred to as “suboptimal”. Such blood pressure values ​​are usually not treated with medication, but they do increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.

A good 80 percent of those affected know about the disease. In about half of hypertensive patients, the blood pressure is controlled with medication so that it no longer exceeds the limit of hypertension. The other half, around 15.4 percent of the adult population, has blood pressure in the hypertensive range, some with and some without treatment.

Only a third of the adult population has blood pressure that is within the optimal range if left untreated. In another third, the blood pressure is in the suboptimal range. However, elevated blood pressure is not a phenomenon that only affects adults. This was shown in the study on the health of children and adolescents in Germany. According to this, in the group of 14 to 17-year-olds, around half of the boys and a quarter of the girls had blood pressure values ​​that were at least in the suboptimal range.

Elevated blood pressure levels as early as childhood are problematic. The longer the body is exposed to increased pressure in the blood vessels, the greater the risk of later developing cardiovascular disease.

High blood pressure is often not recognized until late because it cannot be seen or felt. Blood pressure is often also measured during routine examinations and this is how high blood pressure is diagnosed. Certain hereditary factors and personal lifestyle favor the development of high blood pressure. There are four main factors that bring blood pressure into dangerous ranges: too little exercise, unhealthy diet, obesity and stress.

What does “salt sensitive” mean?

Salt sensitivity is a measure of how blood pressure responds to the intake of table salt or the sodium in table salt. In contrast to salt-sensitive people, salt-resistant people are able to effectively excrete too much salt without a significant increase in blood pressure. However, the number of salt-sensitive people is relatively high. It is estimated that every third person is sensitive to salt. The only question is: Who knows that about themselves? A clinically standardized test such as that used for diabetes does not yet exist.

Studies show that overweight people and people with metabolic syndrome, eg diabetics, are very often salt sensitive. 56 percent of people with high blood pressure and 29 percent of people with normal blood pressure are sensitive to salt.

Doesn’t salt reduction only make sense for salt-sensitive people?

Given the widespread prevalence of hypertension in the population, all possible approaches to reducing blood pressure should be considered. This makes an important contribution to health prevention. There is convincing evidence that less salt lowers the mean blood pressure values ​​in the population. And it is up to everyone to add salt as they wish.

How can I lower salt intake?

If you want to reduce your own salt intake, it is best to do so gradually, because the preference for salty taste is a matter of habit. If you gradually reduce the salt content in food and dishes, the taste receptors will gradually get used to the change. Children should avoid getting used to a very salty taste from the outset if possible.

We absorb most of the salt from processed foods such as bread, meat and sausage products, cheese and convenience products. The domestic salt shaker plays a rather subordinate role. An effective measure is therefore to cook as much as possible with fresh ingredients and to use salt sparingly . Season with fresh herbs and round off dishes with a dash of lemon juice, for example.

Most people cannot do without ready-made food in everyday life. Here it is worth comparing the salt content of different products in the supermarket. In this article you will find some examples of rather salty foods and possible alternatives.

A gradual reduction in the salt content of food and dishes can be done without any problems up to a certain point. In the case of bread, it even seems possible to halve the salt content. In one study , reducing the salt content by 52 percent had no effect on bread consumption, and the participants did not eat more salty bread toppings. After 4 weeks, they had reduced their salt consumption by a significant 25 percent overall.

Can the salt content in all foods be reduced without technological problems?

In the case of bread, reducing the amount of salt is not a technological problem. Various study groups and companies are working on salt reduction, for example in meat products. Neither food safety nor shelf life should be compromised. In some cases, the recipes and the processes have to be revised. The Max Rubner Institute, Federal Research Center for Nutrition, is also working on new technologies on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. In particular, it is about less salt in meat products, fish products, cheese and vegetable juices.

Cheese and sausage contain table salt not only because of the taste. The salt preserves and influences the manufacture of the products. Each type of cheese has different microorganisms that need different salt concentrations for the cheese to mature. Therefore, cheese offers fewer opportunities to reduce salt.

A German ham specialist has been offering raw ham with 25 percent less salt than comparable products since 2013. This ham is said to have the same shelf life as ham salted using conventional methods. The recipe for Parma ham was also changed in 2013 and the upper limit for salt was reduced by 10 percent.