If occasionally licking a tablespoon covered in common salt brightens your day, you don’t have to be ashamed. You are not the only person for whom sodium chloride – its technical name – improves their mood. A few years ago, Alan Kim Johnson, from the University of Iowa, found that when he eliminated that seasoning in the rats’ diet, rodents avoided activities that previously amused them , such as drinking a soda or pressing a button to receive pleasant shocks in your brain. That is to say, the things that until then delighted them had ceased to seem gratifying, which is exactly the same thing that happens to people suffering from depression. And all because the food was bland.
For humans, like rodents, salt lifts our spirits . A logical effect if we consider that we evolved from creatures that lived in the brackish water of the oceans. And that, once settled on land, they still needed sodium and chlorine, the two components of table salt, essential for our cells to function properly and for neurons to communicate.
“Biology equipped us with a sense of taste capable of detecting where sodium chloride is, and with a brain that rewards us with shocks of pleasure when we consume it. So we come back to it again and again, ”explains Johnson. Of course, this stimulating effect cannot serve as an excuse to consume the seasoning by the handful. The World Health Organization (WHO) advises not to exceed two grams of sodium – the most harmful element – a day, which is what corresponds to five grams of salt . But globally it is consumed, on average, twice.
The Spanish, not too salty
Those who abuse the most are the inhabitants of the Asian republic of Kazakhstan, who add no less than fifteen grams of salt daily to their dishes. At the opposite end of the ranking are Kenya and Malawi, two African countries that strictly adhere to the WHO recommendations. According to data from the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition, Spain is right in the middle, with 9.8 grams per day in the diet .
And it is not just the sodium chloride that we consciously add, but the one that many foods have incorporated, which experts call invisible salt. This comes mainly from canned products, such as tuna and fried tomato , cold cuts, cheeses, cereals, pre-cooked meals, sauces and snacks, such as French fries or nuts. Hence, many food companies, driven by the growing awareness of society, have launched into the search for alternatives that provide the same flavor with less sodium. The company Tate & Lyle, for example, has created salt microspheres that, by reducing the size of the grains, increase the contact surface with the taste buds and reduce the dose needed to achieve the same flavor by half.
Other firms are betting on adding enhancers that enhance what the Japanese call kokumi , an oral sensation of persistent taste of food, caused by certain peptides, which intensifies both the salty taste and the so-called umami . It is also considered to use combinations of spices and aromatic herbs that provide the same pleasure to the palate with half the sodium .
A silent killer
After all, the consequences of far exceeding the limits set on a healthy diet should not be taken lightly. The best known is the increase in blood pressure or arterial hypertension, which is nicknamed the silent killer, due to its ability to go unnoticed, without giving symptoms, until it causes strokes or heart attacks . In individuals more sensitive to salt, blood pressure rises considerably during and after its ingestion. And if there was any doubt that this costs lives, scientists from the universities of California, Columbia and Stanford dispelled it when they found that eliminating just half a teaspoon – three grams – from the daily diet could prevent 100,000 heart attacks and 92,000 deaths a year in North America. The American Heart Association, for its part, attributes 2.3 million deaths annually worldwide. There is nothing.
Those who are fortunate that their blood pressure does not rise after taking it are not even escaped from its bad influence. Abusing the salt shaker endangers vital organs ; mainly the heart, kidneys and brain. It is explained because the surplus of sodium affects the function of the endothelium, that is, the inner layer of the arteries, veins and capillaries through which the blood circulates, which plays a key role in the clotting process and in the immune system. In addition, this accumulation hinders the arrival of blood to the myocardium and causes its walls to hypertrophy, as could be read in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology . This chemical compound is also strongly suspected of promoting the development of a group of defensive cells involved in the activation of autoimmune diseases, diseases in which the body itself mistakenly attacks healthy tissues. These are helper cells TH17, linked to psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. Its aggressiveness can increase up to ten times in the presence of high concentrations of salt.
Another argument in favor of dosing it is that made by Todd Alexander and his colleagues at the University of Alberta, in Canada, after finding out that the molecule in charge of regulating sodium concentration is also in charge of controlling calcium levels. When we abuse the white seasoning, the body excretes it in the urine and, with it, also gets rid of the calcium stored in the bones. Ultimately, this mineral loss weakens the skeleton and predisposes you to osteoporosis.
Sodium chloride is also in the spotlight for its ability to delay puberty . American endocrinologists raised the alarm when they discovered that if the intake triples or quadruples the recommended daily amount, sexual maturation and the bodily changes typical of development are slowed down. If we continue to eat as we have done up to now, the reproductive health of future generations will be at stake, they came to warn at the last congress of the European Society of Endocrinology.
Very salty hangover
Headache, dry mouth, upset stomach, swollen fingers … They seem like the typical symptoms that come the morning after a long night of drinking with friends, but it does not have to be related to alcohol abuse. Shaking the salt shaker excessively during dinner can cause discomfort similar to those that follow a binge . It is because both the alcohol in beverages and the salt cause dehydration in the body. By detecting exorbitant levels of sodium in the bloodstream, our body is forced to take water from other places to dilute it, and that leaves some tissues quite dry. And since sleeping we do not replace fluids, the next morning the discomfort is evident. Women are more sensitive to salty hangovers than men, and symptoms also worsen with age.
Perhaps for all these reasons, our tongue is prepared to detect – and reject – excess sodium chloride. While the palate admits large amounts of sugar without flinching , excessively high levels of salt, such as those contained in sea water, cause us a sensation similar to bitterness. However, in the doses contained in a packet of potato chips, we have all found that its taste appeal is irresistible; we can’t stop eating.
The secret of an ironman
Yuki Oka and her colleagues at Columbia University Medical Center in New York hoped to find a specific taste detector to blame, but instead found that salt simultaneously activates receptors for sour and bitter tastes . This biological safety mechanism is very necessary if we consider that drinking sea water could lead to extreme dehydration, kidney failure and even death.
However, not all are contraindications: the dressing can become a faithful ally in the practice of demanding sports. For example, if you are a triathlete, adding sodium chloride capsules to your hydration routine can make it take you 26 minutes less to complete a medium distance run than if you consume sports drinks . This was demonstrated by scientists from the Camilo José Cela University, in Madrid, during a half ironman or ironman 70.3, a triathlon race that consists of 1.9 kilometers of swimming, 90 kilometers of cycling and 21.1 kilometers of athletics. The most significant improvements were in running and cycling speeds. According to these Spanish experts, athletes replaced 71% of the sodium lost through sweat with salt, while sports drinks only restored half. Researchers also suggest eating foods that contain high amounts of salt, such as nuts, to tackle ultra-endurance competitions.
Another plus point is its ability to defend the organism from pathogens . Microbiologists at the University of Regensburg, in Germany, confirmed that when mice consume diets rich in salt, they accumulate sodium in the skin and improve their immune response against skin parasites. That is, it arms us against possible microbial ailments, as the experts concluded in the journal Cell Metabolism . However, it remains to be seen whether a localized sodium chloride supplement could be used to boost defenses during the course of an infectious disease without compromising cardiovascular health.
As if that were not enough, when we restrict the use of the salt shaker, our memory goes wrong . A study by the Boston University School of Medicine, in the United States, demonstrated a decade ago that rats with a diet low in sodium show memory failures and other cognitive problems. After all, we must not forget that this chemical element is essential for neurons to correctly transmit nerve signals. It seems that the brain also demands that we add a pinch of salt – always in moderation, of course – to life .
