Salt consumption: This much salt is unhealthy for us

For years we have been warned of excessive salt consumption. But what is the right dose for the day and is salt the same as salt? In this article we have put together for you what you should pay attention to when it comes to seasoning number one.

Salt: healthy or unhealthy?

We have known for years that too much salt is not healthy in the long term. But now Canadian researchers have found that too little salt can affect health.

• Salt is the number one condiment in food preparation. As a mineral, it receives vital functions in the body such as digestion or water regulation.
• Women consume an average of 8.4 grams of salt a day, men even 10 grams. This says a study that was commissioned and published by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture at the Robert Koch Institute.
• However, the German Society for Nutrition and the World Health Organization (WHO) warn of salt consumption of over 5 and 6 grams a day.
• A Canadian study now proves the opposite. The researcher Dr. Andrew Mente and his team from the Population Health Research Institute in Hamilton, Canada, conducted a comparative study of nearly 96, 000 people in 18 countries over eight years.
• The study found that consuming salt at an average of 14 grams per day only significantly increased the risk of high blood pressure and stroke.
• Such an amount of salt is most likely used in China. There, people cook numerous dishes with the highly salty soy sauce.
• Too little salt is also unhealthy. This also emerges from the Canadian study. In countries where I eat very little salt, the risk of cardiovascular diseases increased.
• So if you stay with the average German amount of salt, you eat a healthy diet and do not have to limit your salt consumption. Provided that there are no diseases in which you should consume less salt.
• So that your dishes do not taste bland in this case, you can resort to alternatives to salt.

Sea salt or Himalayan salt: are there differences?

There are many different types of salt. Each one has its own look and taste.

• Evaporation of sea water in shallow pools creates white sea ​​salt, which accounts for 20 percent of global salt consumption. Just like "normal salt", it consists of sodium chloride. In the trade it is mostly offered as coarse-grained salt.
• Himalya salt is mined almost exclusively in Pakistan. It accounts for around 10 percent of global salt consumption. Himalayan salt gets its characteristic pink color from impurities with iron oxide. It consists of 98 percent sodium chloride and has the same effect as conventional salt.
• The rock salt most consumed worldwide with 70 percent is also extracted in Germany. It is named after the fossil rock that originated from sea water, the so-called halite. Like all other salts, it also consists of sodium chloride.
• Black lava salt gets its characteristic color and smell from the finest, sulfur-containing volcanic rock, which contaminates it. In addition to contamination, it mainly consists of sodium chloride and is a relatively expensive product.