Pass the salt please?

Thursday 28th January 2010 2:46pm

salt It used to be the conventional wisdom that salt was ‘bad’ for you and for some people excess salt should certainly be avoided but not for everyone.

People with unstable blood pressure problems usually are asked by their doctors to try and reduce salt intake because it tends to make people retain fluid and hence puts upward stress on your blood pressure.

Still others with poor renal function are advised to limit salt intake for the same reason because the kidneys are the body’s main organ for regulating fluid balance so if they are already struggling to cope reducing salt can give them a bit of a break.

What about the rest of us?

Well like most things in life ‘all things in moderation’.

It is generally agreed that salt in cooking, for example when boiling rice or pasta, is acceptable but we should try and avoid adding extra salt when at the dinner table. For most people this is an acceptable compromise where they get the flavour enhancement of some salt without overdoing it.

Most people’s problems with salt arise due to salt’s flavour enhancing properties because it is used widely in the packaged food industry for this reason. It is a cheap way of improving the flavour of snack foods so it helps keep costs down, and blood pressures up! You need to be a bit of a label watcher if packaged foods make up a large part of your family’s diet because large of amounts of salt can be ‘hidden’ from view in this way.

So in short its fine to use salt in cooking, keep the salt shaker off of the dining table and read the labels of your packaged foods and you should still be able to enjoy the things you like while still looking after your health.

This information is not intended as a substitute for qualified medical advice. Please consult a properly qualified health care practitioner.