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Salt is a condiment we eat every day, and for some reason, the rumors about it never end. From table salt anti-caking agent is toxic, to sea salt pollution, and now there are rumors that low-sodium salt is a life-sending salt. Today, FooDad talks to you about low-sodium salt.

What is low sodium salt

The so-called low-sodium salt is ordinary table salt with a certain proportion of potassium chloride added. It can be understood as replacing part of sodium chloride with potassium chloride, and the sodium chloride content is lower than that of pure table salt, so it is called low-sodium salt. According to China's National Standard for Food Safety Edible Salt, the potassium chloride content of low-sodium salt is 10-35%. Generally, the potassium chloride content of low-sodium salt on the market is between 20 and 30%.

Why Low Sodium

We all know that eating too much sodium is bad for your health, easy to get high blood pressure, or a trigger for stomach cancer. Therefore, the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2016) recommend that you should not eat more than 6 grams of salt per day. But in fact, China's per capita more than 10 grams, more than 15 grams in the northern rural areas.

Nutrition and preventive medicine experts have repeatedly advised to eat less salt. However, eating habits are deeply rooted and there are still many people who eat salty food. For this reason, low-sodium salt has been introduced. Since potassium chloride also has a salty taste, low-sodium salt is about as salty as regular salt. By eating the same amount of low-sodium salt, you eat a little less sodium and a little more potassium, which is a pair that helps lower high blood pressure.

The potassium requirement is 2 g/day and the recommended intake for the prevention of chronic diseases is 3.6 g/day. According to the 2012 National Nutritional Surveillance Data, China's per capita potassium intake is less than 1.7 g/day. Therefore, eating low-sodium salt will allow you to eat less sodium and replenish potassium, killing two birds with one stone.

Is low-sodium salt safe

The reason why there is a rumor that low-sodium salt is "life-sending salt" is because of the fear that eating low-sodium salt with too much potassium intake will lead to hyperkalemia, and severe hyperkalemia is fatal.

In fact, this concern is unfounded. As long as kidney function is normal, excess potassium will be excreted through urine, so there is a wide range of safe intake of potassium. Even if we calculate on the basis that low-sodium salt contains a maximum of 35% potassium chloride, eating 6 grams of low-sodium salt per day is equivalent to eating 2.1 grams of potassium chloride, which is equivalent to 1.1 grams of potassium. This dose is less than the required amount and is not a safety concern at all.

Low-sodium salt isn't for everyone

While low-sodium salt has the benefit of less sodium and more potassium, it's not for everyone.

1. The kidney function of infants and young children is not fully developed, and they need very little sodium and not much potassium. Breast milk supplements can provide enough sodium and potassium. So infants up to one week of age do not need to eat salt. Little ones over a week old should eat less salt, and not low-sodium salt. Because low-sodium salt is beneficial primarily for blood pressure, it is not necessary for teens to take low-sodium salt either.
2. Patients with renal insufficiency especially cannot eat low sodium salt. Because of renal insufficiency when the ability of renal excretion of potassium decreased, potassium ate more easy to accumulate hyperkalemia. Therefore, for people with poor renal function, low-sodium salt is really life-threatening salt.
3. In addition, low-sodium salts conflict with some medications. For example, potassium-preserving diuretics and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors can cause blood potassium to rise. Most of these drugs are taken more by people with heart disease and high blood pressure, so these people should consult their doctors before taking low-sodium salt.
4. Another thing is that people who sweat a lot should not eat low-sodium salt because they need more sodium for heavy sweating. Like athletes, heavy laborers, and workers in hot environments.

Summarize: For adults with normal kidney function, low sodium salt is safe and can play the role of eating less sodium and more potassium, which is beneficial for controlling and preventing high blood pressure. However, for people with poor kidneys and taking high blood pressure medication, it is recommended to consult a doctor before taking low sodium salt.

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In June 2018, Liang Hui, deputy director of the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety, was interviewed by Consumer Reports and gave a more detailed popularization of low-sodium salt, which provides more practical reference information for consumers to fully understand low-sodium salt.

Consumer = Consumer Reports Liang = Deputy Director Liang Hui

Negative: What is low-sodium salt? How is it different from regular salt?

Liang: Low-sodium salt is edible salt processed from one or several kinds of refined salt, crushed washing salt, sun-dried salt, etc., and food additives permitted by the State (e.g. potassium chloride) are added to reduce the concentration of sodium ions.

Simply put, low-sodium salt replaces sodium chloride with a portion of potassium chloride to reduce sodium intake for salt eaters.

GB 2721-2015 "National Standard for Food Safety Edible Salt" stipulates that for every 100 grams of low-sodium salt, the content of potassium chloride should be 10% to 35%, which is extrapolated to 65% to 90% of sodium chloride. (The sodium chloride content of common salt is usually more than 97%.)

Consumption: Why are there such products as low-sodium salt on the market? Are low-sodium salts available in other countries?

Leung: On January 31, 2013, the World Health Organization issued new guidelines for salt intake, clearly stating that excessive sodium intake or insufficient potassium intake are risk factors for high blood pressure.

In addition, from the perspective of dietary structure, Chinese people's main sodium intake originates from table salt, and low-sodium salt is the best choice that can realize sodium reduction and potassium supplementation.

As a matter of fact, low-sodium salt is not available only in our country, but has long been available in many countries in the world. In the 1970s, countries such as the United Kingdom and Finland implemented policies to promote the consumption of low-sodium salt one after another, with varying degrees of success.

Negative: All low-sodium salts contain about 10% to 35% potassium chloride, why is potassium chloride added? Does it have any benefits to the human body?

Leung: First of all, potassium chloride is a permitted food additive species in China, which can be used in edible salt and salt substitute products (low-sodium salt) with a taste similar to that of sodium chloride (i.e. edible salt).

Secondly, potassium is an essential nutrient for the human body. Studies have shown that increased potassium intake can lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure in adults, and the World Health Organization recommends that adults consume more potassium from food to reduce blood pressure and the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and coronary heart disease.

CC: That means that low sodium salt is able to affect the body's blood pressure levels and even prevent high blood pressure?

Leung: Studies have concluded that reducing sodium and increasing potassium intake lowers blood pressure, which means less hypertension.

Low-sodium salt has an intervention effect on high blood pressure compared to traditional table salt (which contains 97% or more sodium chloride) by lowering the sodium chloride content of table salt while increasing the proportion of potassium, but with a salty taste similar to that of traditional table salt.

Therefore, compared with reducing salt consumption, people using low-sodium salt have better compliance and can ultimately achieve the goal of reducing sodium intake and correcting the dietary pattern of high sodium and low potassium.

In addition, sodium restriction and potassium supplementation interventions with low-sodium salts can simultaneously reduce urinary sodium levels, increase urinary potassium levels, and lower sodium-potassium ratios and blood pressure in both hypertensive and non-hypertensive populations, and the effects are more pronounced in hypertensive populations.

Consumption: Can other foods meet potassium intake needs without low-sodium salt? What is the approximate current level of potassium intake for adults in this country?

Leung: Potassium is also widely found in various types of food, meat, aquatic products, beans, potatoes are rich in potassium, as long as it is not a serious predilection or eating too little, in the daily diet of reasonable with the consumption of these foods is also able to meet the demand for potassium.

(According to the "Chinese Food Composition Table", of which there are 5 major categories of cereals, potatoes, beans, mushrooms and nuts, the potassium content of wheat germ, broad beans, mushrooms, silver fungus, purple cabbage and hazelnuts can reach more than 1,000mg/100g.)

Currently, the Adequate Intake (AI) of dietary potassium for adults over 18 years of age in China is 2,000 mg/d, and the Recommended Intake for the Prevention of Non-Communicable Chronic Diseases (PI-NCD) is 3,600 mg/d. The AI for the prevention of non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs) is 3,600 mg/d.

The national nutritional monitoring data from 2010-2012 show that the intake of potassium ions in different regions of China is between 1479.5mg/d~1931.5mg/d (slightly lower than the appropriate intake, but still far from the recommended amount for the prevention of chronic diseases). (Slightly lower than the appropriate intake, but still a long way from the recommended amount for the prevention of chronic diseases)

Consumption: There are rumors that eating low-sodium salt will get hyperkalemia, and even cause "human life", is this statement true?

Liang: First of all, it is safe for healthy people to consume low-sodium salt. We know that potassium is an essential nutrient for the human body, and the appropriate daily intake of potassium for healthy people is 2,000mg, and the recommended intake of potassium for the prevention of chronic diseases is 3,600mg.

According to the upper range limit of 35% of the potassium chloride content in low-sodium salt and the recommended daily amount of 6 grams of edible salt in the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2016), 6 grams of low-sodium salt contains 2100 mg of potassium chloride, which translates into a potassium content of 1108 mg, which is still lower than the daily potassium requirement for healthy people.

Secondly, there is a wide range of safe intake of potassium. As long as renal function is normal, no metabolic abnormality can be caused by potassium intake from daily meals in the general population, so there is no maximum intake level set for potassium.

Finally, domestic animal toxicity experiments found that the LD50 of the low-sodium salt group is higher than that of the salt group, indicating that the toxicity of low-sodium salt is lower than that of table salt, and there is basically no accumulation effect in the animal body.

CC: Despite the relatively high benefits of low-sodium salt, who are the people who need to avoid it? Why?

Liang: The following categories of people are not suitable for low-sodium salt.

①Don't eat low-sodium salt for athletes, heavy laborers, or people who work in hot and humid environments.Because the large amount of sweat loss that accompanies it carries away some of the electrolytes such as sodium, consuming low-sodium salt may cause hyponatremia.

②Patients with kidney disease, especially those with impaired potassium excretion function of the kidneys such as uremia., excess potassium cannot be excreted, and low-sodium salt increases the risk of hyperkalemia.

(iii) is for hypertensive patients taking specific antihypertensive drugsIf you are taking potassium-preserving diuretics, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, and other antihypertensive drugs that inhibit potassium excretion or inhibit renal tubular sodium-potassium exchange and increase blood potassium, you need to consult your doctor.

In fact, in addition to indicating the potassium content in the product label of low-sodium salt, it will also be clearly marked: "It should be used with caution by people who are not suitable for high potassium intake, such as high-temperature operators, heavy labor-intensity workers, people with renal dysfunction, and patients with hypertension who are taking antihypertensive drugs."

Consumers decide the amount of salt added is often through the taste, feel that the salinity is not enough will be added. However, the taste of low-sodium salt is lighter or even bitter than normal salt, which makes it easy to add more salt to achieve the desired taste, thus increasing salt intake. How can we satisfy the taste and reduce salt intake at the same time?

Liang: 2012 Guangdong Province dietary nutrition monitoring survey shows that the total population of our province per capita salt daily intake of 7.8g, of which 9.7g for rural residents, urban residents 6.8g, are higher than the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2016)" recommended that the daily salt intake of adults should be less than 6 grams. Therefore, from the perspective of a healthy diet, reducing salt intake is fundamental.

low-sodium, high-potassium salt

Low-sodium salt, also known as low-sodium, high-potassium salt. Compared with regular table salt, low-sodium salt is characterized by a reduced sodium content and an increased potassium content. Low-sodium salt is made from iodized salt with a certain amount of potassium chloride and magnesium sulfate added. This improves the balance of sodium (Na+), potassium (K+) and magnesium (Mg2+) in the body.

Chlorine, sodium and potassium are the main components of the body's electrolytes. Sodium and potassium, however, are like two evenly matched comrades in arms, but with each other as a counterbalance. Sodium in the cell outside, potassium in the cell, both together to defend the body inside and outside the cell osmotic pressure, water and pH balance. Once the balance is broken, the sodium content increases, it will cause harm to the human body.

Low-sodium salt is best suited for long-term consumption by middle-aged and elderly people and patients suffering from hypertension. However, patients suffering from chronic kidney disease, congestive heart failure or taking potassium-preserving diuretics need to use it with caution under medical supervision.

According to the new guidelines published by the World Health Organization, adults should consume less than 2,000 milligrams of sodium, or less than 5 grams of salt, and at least 3,510 milligrams of potassium per day.

Dietary methods of potassium supplementation.

1. Fruits rich in potassium include: bananas, strawberries, oranges, grapes, grapefruit, watermelon and kiwi.

2, potassium-rich vegetables are: spinach, yam, woolly beans, amaranth, scallions and so on.

3, high potassium-containing foods are: all kinds of beans, kelp, nori, yellow fish, chicken, milk, cornmeal and so on.

Author Resume：Wang Hoon

National Registered Dietetic Technician DTR

I'm often asked by moms if they can buy low sodium salt for their babies.

Some moms also ask if they have to buy low-sodium salt for their child with kidney disease.

Low-sodium salt: It is made from iodized salt with a certain amount of potassium chloride (about 30% content) and magnesium sulfate.

Potassium is added to low-sodium salt and potassium ions are excreted from the body through the kidneys. If the kidney function is impaired, consumption of potassium-added salt will cause accumulation of potassium ions, increased blood potassium, cardiac arrhythmia, and even life-threatening.

So don't give low-sodium salt to healthy and kidney-diseased babies.

And who is low-sodium salt best for?

Middle-aged and elderly people and those who suffer from hypertension consume it for a long time.

However, patients with chronic kidney disease, congestive heart failure, or taking potassium-preserving diuretics need to use it with caution under medical supervision.

Recently, such a piece of information has been circulating in many online media and circles of friends, saying that the low-sodium salt sold in the market is a life-sending salt, and many unknown masses have been forwarding it everywhere, which is prone to cause panic. Here the author, as a senior engineer who has been a professional working in the food testing authority for many years, will explain what is edible salt and low-sodium salt.

First let's look at the relevant national standards that are currently in force:

First, edible salt contains three major categories: refined salt, crushed washing salt and sun-dried salt.

refined salt

Refined salt is edible salt made from brine or salt as raw material by vacuum evaporation salt-making process, mechanical thermal compression evaporation salt-making process or crushing, washing and drying process, which is classified into superior grade, first grade and second grade, and the content of sodium chloride is required to be at least 97.2%.

Crushed Washing Salt

Crushed and washed salt is made from sea salt, lake salt or rock salt by crushing and washing process, which is classified into Grade I and Grade II, and the sodium chloride content is required to be at least 96.0%.

solar salt

Sun-dried salt is produced by the sun-dried brine concentration and crystallization process, and is divided into Grade I and Grade II, with a minimum sodium chloride content requirement of 91.2%.

Second, low-sodium salt is divided into three major categories, for Type I, Type II, Type III

Class I consists of a mixture of edible salt (refined salt), edible potassium chloride, and edible magnesium sulfate heptahydrate;

Class II consists of a mixture of edible salt (refined salt), edible potassium chloride, and edible magnesium chloride hexahydrate;

Class III consists of a mixture of edible salt (refined salt) and edible potassium chloride.

At present, supermarkets sell mainly the above three types of low-sodium salt. The sodium chloride content of these low-sodium salts is between 60% and 80%. The potassium chloride content of Type I and Type II ranges from 14% to 34%, and that of Type III ranges from 20% to 40%.Here we can see that the potassium chloride content of low-sodium salt is very high, the normal population or the need to reduce sodium to supplement potassium people can eat this low-sodium salt, but people who suffer from hyperkalemia can no longer eat this salt containing high levels of potassium, or eat may lead to aggravation of the symptoms of endangerment of health, the network rumor of the salt of the life is derived from this.

C. Flavored salt is divided into common flavored salt, low-sodium flavored salt

Seasoned salt is a series of solid seasoned salt with different tastes processed by using table salt or low-sodium salt as the carrier and adding a certain amount of seasoning or food that can play a role in seasoning.

Ordinary seasoned salt: sodium chloride content is required to be ≥60.0%, without adding potassium chloride;

Low-sodium flavored salt: the content of sodium chloride is required to be ≥50%, and the content of potassium chloride is between 10% and 30%.

The use of seasoned salt is much the same as above, and also according to each person's needs, they choose their own category to use.

Therefore, salt is not as good as the expensive one, but as good as the right one. The Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2016) issued by the National Health and Planning Commission emphasizes that the daily salt intake of adults should not exceed 6g, and we should buy salt according to our own needs when choosing salt, and we must pay attention to how much sodium chloride and potassium chloride are marked on the label when buying salt on the market. No matter what salt you buy, his main ingredient is still sodium chloride, and keep in mind that the daily consumption intake of 6g is appropriate.

It is known that people with high blood pressure should eat less salt because excessive salt intake increases the risk of high blood pressure and also affects blood pressure control in hypertensive patients. The main reason why a high salt diet tends to raise blood pressure is that excessive intake of sodium ions in salt (sodium chloride) will increase blood volume due to water and sodium retention, and blood pressure will rise. Long-term high salt diets are accompanied by often high blood pressure, and over time, vascular health is also affected, blood pressure will rise further, and the risk of cardiovascular and cerebral vascular disease is also increased.

Since the harm of salt mainly comes from sodium, low-sodium salt appeared on the market to replace sodium chloride with part of potassium chloride, so that from the sodium chloride of common table salt, it becomes sodium chloride + potassium chloride (generally about 30%), potassium chloride also has a salty taste, only that the salty taste is not as big as sodium chloride, so if you achieve the same salinity, with high potassium low-sodium salt you can consume less sodium than common table salt, which is also favors blood pressure control. Reducing sodium also increases potassium intake, and increasing potassium intake appropriately is also beneficial to blood pressure control.

Of course, low-sodium salt is also sodium, if you eat before the salt is obviously too much, heavy taste, changed the low-sodium salt, you stir-fry is still heavy taste, and before the same amount of salt, it is likely that sodium intake is still excessive. There are also many people, like you said in the question, the low-sodium salt as "life-saving salt", think it is very healthy, eat more won't hurt, and even more than before with common salt, then the total sodium intake may not drop but rise, on the blood pressure control will not improve.

Therefore, no matter what, should try to develop the habit of light diet, on this basis, with equal or less amount of high potassium and low sodium salt to replace the ordinary salt, will be conducive to blood pressure control, is beneficial to health.

Because the metabolism of sodium and potassium is affected in patients with renal insufficiency, especially in order to prevent hyperkalemia, sodium intake should be restricted. Therefore, except for patients with renal insufficiency who should consume less low-sodium salt (of course, common table salt contains sodium, and should be consumed sparingly), most of the other people, it is safe to use low-sodium salt.

Low-sodium salt is actually iodized salt as raw material, and then certain processing, adding the appropriate amount of potassium chloride and magnesium sulfate, in order to improve the balance of sodium and potassium in the body, so as to achieve the purpose of preventing high blood pressure. As the price of low-sodium salt is much more expensive than iodized salt, some people believe that low-sodium salt has more benefits for the health of the body. However, some people believe that low-sodium salt is high in potassium, which is not conducive to the health of the body if taken for a long period of time. What is this all about?

As we all know, excessive salt intake is one of the most important reasons for the high incidence of hypertension. Therefore, in order to protect the health of the body, in ordinary life, we must control the intake, compared to low-sodium salt has the effect of salt reduction, that is, although the reduction of salt intake, but in the taste and salinity will change, and can effectively help the body to reduce the intake of sodium, to achieve the purpose of preventing high blood pressure disease.

From this point of view, there is no problem with low-sodium salt itself, and it can be consumed safely by people with normal kidney function. However, it is necessary to be alert that, if people with kidney disease, due to the renal insufficiency of the organism, and thus can not be like a normal person to eat too much potassium discharge, at this time, if the long-term consumption of low-sodium salt, then there may be hyperkalemia, endangering the health of the organism.

From this point of view, in ordinary life, everyone, no matter which kind of salt you choose, should control the intake, in order to prevent the onset of some unnecessary harm to the disease, to further protect the health of the organism.

Instructor: Gao Lingyu, Deputy Chief Physician, Department of Internal Medicine, Jili District People's Hospital, Luoyang, China.

She has been engaged in clinical internal medicine for more than 20 years, and has rich experience in common and frequent diseases in internal medicine.

If you find this article useful, please feel free to like or recommend it to your friends and follow [Medlink Media].

Salt, which we need to eat every day, is an extremely important condiment that we can't live without, but there was once a rumor circulating on the Internet that "low-sodium salt is high-potassium salt, which is a life-sending salt. Prolonged consumption can be seriously life-threatening."

So, is it true or false that low-sodium salt is a threat to human life? And what should we do about it? Here's what you need to know to find out!

A. What is low-sodium salt? The following article explains it for you to understand

Low sodium salt, in fact, is made by adding roughly 30% potassium chloride to iodized table salt. Compared with normal sodium salt, it will contain lower Na, while the potassium content will be higher than that of normal sodium salt.

Therefore, low-salt salt is high potassium salt, although Na and potassium are nutrients needed by the human body, which can help the body fluid can be distributed in a balanced manner, thus playing a role in maintaining the normal physiological functioning of the human body.

II. Role of low-sodium salt

As you can see from the above, low-sodium salt is rich in potassium, which has the benefits of vasodilating blood vessels, reducing vascular resistance, and increasing urinary output, thus having the effect of counteracting the elevation of blood pressure brought about by high blood pressure.

And properly lowering the body's intake of sodium ions can reduce the likelihood of the body suffering from high blood pressure and heart disease. Especially for those who suffer from high blood pressure, eating low sodium salt is good for maintaining the balance of that and potassium in the body, which helps to actively control blood pressure.

Therefore, those who want to combat hypertension and cardiovascular diseases can choose to eat low-sodium salt, and Xiaokang also suggests that middle-aged and elderly people eat low-sodium salt.

Third, then, low-sodium salt is actually "life-saving salt" or "life-saving salt"?

Normally, the blood potassium concentration in a normal human body is 3.5-5.5 mmol/L, but high or low blood potassium can have an impact on human health, and in serious cases can be life-threatening.

So, if we often eat high potassium salt, will it lead to the development of high blood potassium concentration, making it hyperkalemia?

1. Explanation of "life-saving salt"

In fact, if people with kidney disease and abnormal kidney function eat high potassium salt for a long period of time, hyperkalemia may occur, mainly because people with poor kidney function, the ability of kidney to metabolize potassium will be weakened, resulting in difficulty in discharging potassium into the human body, which is very easy to induce hyperkalemia.

Also, if cardiovascular patients often take diuretics with "potassium-preserving" effects and low-sodium salts, the potassium intake will be too high, and an increase in blood potassium concentration may also occur.

Hyperkalemia can slow down the heartbeat, and in severe cases, hyperkalemia can cause the heart to stop beating suddenly, resulting in sudden death. This may be the reason why low sodium salt is also known as "life-saving salt" by some people!

Therefore, when taking certain "potassium-preserving" medications, it may not be suitable to take low-sodium salt, and you should communicate with your doctor, and it is recommended that you should take blood potassium tests regularly, so as to avoid the problem of rising blood potassium concentration without realizing it.

2. Explanation of "life-preserving salt"

However, if one is a healthy and normal person, there is no major problem in consuming low-sodium salt, which is safe and beneficial to human health because normal people have full renal function and normal excretion of potassium, so there is no need to worry about hyperkalemia, and there is also the benefit of preventing diseases.

These are some of the problems explained about low-sodium salt, and I hope they will be helpful to you!

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Is low-sodium salt a "life-saving" or "life-preserving" salt?

Gee, how did this question form a hit again?

The answer is clear:

Low-sodium salt is naturally more"Life preserving salt" rather than"Salt of Delivery".

This is largely due to the fact that the amount and proportion of sodium and potassium in the diet is directly related to blood pressure, and hypertension is the largest single risk factor for human mortality in today's society.

Hypertension, the largest single risk factor for human mortality

We know that cardiovascular disease has been the number one killer of humans for decades and that more than half of all cardiovascular deaths are a direct complication of hypertension.

For example, according to the Global Burden of Disease study, the global population died 17 million deaths from cardiovascular disease in 2013, with 9.4 million of those deaths attributed to hypertension.

Among all the disease risk factors, poor diet is the largest combination of risk factors, while hypertension is the largest single risk factor, and even smoking is "inferior" and can only be "subordinate" to the second place.

High-salt diets are among the top five risk factors for human mortality

The top 10 individual risk factors, in order, were: high blood pressure, smoking, high body mass index, high blood glucose levels, high salt diet, insufficient fruit in the diet, ambient air pollution, indoor air pollution in the home, high blood cholesterol and alcohol consumption.

Specifically for our country, the top 10 risk factors are: high blood pressure, smoking, high salt diet, high fasting glucose, insufficient fruit intake, high body mass index, alcohol air pollution, indoor air pollution and insufficient whole grains in the diet.

It can be seen that, worldwide, high blood pressure "dominates" the first risk factor for human death, while a high salt diet also ranks fifth among all risk factors.

As the world's leading country with a high salt diet, hypertension and a high salt diet ranked first and third, respectively, among all risk factors.

High-sodium and high-sodium-to-potassium ratio diets can significantly elevate blood pressure

Sodium and potassium are the major extracellular and intracellular cations in the body and play an important role in the maintenance of fluid volume, water-electrolyte balance, and the stabilization of the internal environment for vital activities.

Chronic high sodium diets can lead to the development of a high sodium balance in the body, resulting in an increase in the volume of body fluids, commonly referred to as sodium water storage, leading to an increase in blood pressure.

On the contrary, the kidneys have an antagonistic effect on the excretion of sodium and potassium, and a higher intake of potassium in the diet promotes sodium excretion and contributes to the maintenance of a desirable blood pressure status.

A large body of research evidence suggests that diets high in sodium and low in potassium can lead to increased blood pressure; conversely, diets low in sodium and high in potassium are effective in lowering blood pressure.

For example, in one study, participants were supplemented with an additional 3 grams of sodium (equivalent to 7.6 grams of table salt), potassium, or placebo, respectively, per day for 4 consecutive weeks from baseline, and changes in 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure were demonstrated:

As can be seen, with the baseline state（Sodium supplementation resulted in a significant increase in blood pressure (both systolic and diastolic) throughout the day compared to potassium supplementation, which resulted in a decrease in blood pressure.

The study also found that the sodium-potassium ratio had a more pronounced effect on blood pressure relative to the absolute amount of sodium and potassium consumed.

If people are so "smart", why do they still eat poorly?

Currently, hypertension is prevalent worldwide, and one of the major reasons is that we humans "eat poorly", eating too much sodium, but not enough potassium intake.

If people are so "smart", why do they still eat poorly?

The reason for this is that our ancestors were only able to eat "natural" foods, mainly plant foods, for millions of long evolutionary years.

One of the most important features of this food structure is that it is low in sodium and high in potassium. It is thought that the maximum daily intake of potassium by humans in the primitive state of a predominantly plant-based diet could be as high as 400 mmol, which is equivalent to up to 30 grams of potassium chloride.

Sodium can only be sourced from occasionally available meat.

In this way, humans developed a sodium addiction second only to sugar cravings, which today weThe heavy-handedness of "food that isn't salty and flavorful" is a legacy of this historical context.

In modern society, the high development of productive forces and the great abundance and surplus of various foods, including salt, have greatly indulged people's heavy taste for high-salt diets; and the "difficulty in swallowing" of plant foods has led to a serious shortage of dietary potassium, resulting in today's common high-sodium, low-potassium dietary structure.

Reducing sodium intake and increasing dietary potassium intake is the international consensus for correcting high sodium and low potassium dietary structures

The world's mainstream organizations have long reached a high degree of international consensus in this regard that lowering dietary sodium and increasing dietary potassium intake are the main measures for maintaining a healthy diet and preventing diseases.

For example, WHO(violently) strongIt is recommended that adults shouldReducing sodium intakeTo lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and coronary heart disease, sodium intake should be reduced to <2 grams per day (i.e., 5 grams of salt/day) or less in adults.

Another universally accepted recommendation of the U.S. National Dietary Guidelines is that adults daily钠Intake should be less than 2300 mg (6 g of salt/day). For high blood pressure,Patients with diabetes or chronic kidney disease, andFor people age 51 and older, sodium intake is up to 1,500 milligrams per day (4 grams of salt) - a level at which daily food barely tastes like salt.

At the same time, it is recommended thatIncrease potassium intake.

WHO strongly recommends that adults increase their dietary intake of potassium to reduce blood pressure and the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and coronary heart disease, with a daily potassium intake of at least 90 mmol/day (3,510 mg) for adults.

The recommendation given by the National Institutes of Health is for adults to increase their daily intake of potassium from food to a minimum of 120 mmol (equivalent to 4,700 mg of potassium).

Dietary structure is insufficient, "low-sodium salt" to make up for it

WHO guidelines state thatThe ideal ratio of sodium to potassium in the diet should be maintained at 1:1.

recommended in the guidelinesReduce sodium intake to less than 2 grams per day and increase potassium intake to 90 mmol (3,500 mg), then the molar ratio of sodium to potassium happens to be about 1:1.

However, the current global prevalence of high sodium and low potassium diets makes this ratio much higher than 2:1.

Therefore, it is difficult to achieve the ideal sodium to potassium ratio by relying solely on improving dietary structure, especially today as the pace of life increases and fast food increasingly occupies people's lunch boxes.

What to do?

Replacing regular table salt with "low sodium salt" is an alternative solution.

The so-called low-sodium salt is to add 10~35% potassium chloride in table salt to replace the corresponding dose of sodium chloride, then consuming the same dose of this salt can reduce the intake of sodium, while increasing the intake of potassium, which can be said to be a two-in-one good strategy.

You can't get high blood potassium on low-sodium salt

Rumor has it that the reason low-sodium salt has become a "life-saving salt" is that eating this type of salt can lead to high blood potassium, which is a health risk for some people.

Can you really get high blood potassium from eating low-sodium salt?

This concern is completely redundant.

Both the WHO and NIH guidelines recommend a substantial increase in dietary potassium intake, with the increased dose being much higher than the potassium intake that would result from eating a little low-sodium salt.

However, none of these guidelines address the question of whether increased potassium intake leads to hyperkalemia.

Because, a large body of basic research evidence and the underlying physiologic principles clearly show that oral potassium does not cause significant elevations in blood potassium in individuals with normal renal function, this concern is unwarranted.

For example, in a 1900 study, healthy adults were given a total oral dose of up to 400 mmol (equivalent to 30 grams of potassium chloride) in four divided doses per day, four times the current recommended increase in dose. As a result, although an acute transient rise in plasma potassium, aldosterone, and urinary potassium excretion occurs early on (within 72 hours) with each dose of potassium, a new relatively hyperkalemic equilibrium is quickly reached (80% of the ingested potassium is excreted in the urine within 24 hours), resulting in only a mild rise in blood potassium within the physiologic range. At the same time, there is a slight increase in urinary sodium and a slight negative sodium balance. By 20 days, the negative sodium effect also disappeared to baseline levels.

In the 1991 study, 115 mmol of potassium was supplemented daily for up to 1 year, and no increase in blood potassium above the normal physiologic range was observed.

As can be seen, potassium supplementation was not found to result in the development of significant hyperkalemia, either in large amounts (more than 8 times the daily intake) or over a long period of time (1 year).

How much potassium can you add per day if you are eating low sodium salt?

Assuming, for example, that up to 10 grams of low-sodium salt is consumed daily at 35% of the maximum added potassium chloride, the extra potassium chloride intake would be only 3.5 grams, which is equivalent to a little more than 40 millimoles of potassium, and less than one-half to one-third of the recommended amount.

It can be seen, in people with normal kidney function, simply eat some low-sodium salt to eat out of high blood potassium is pure nonsense. Thus, the claim that low-sodium salt is "life-sending salt" is purely a rumor.

On the contrary, eating low-sodium salt reduces sodium intake while supplementing potassium intake, helping to maintain a normal blood pressure status, thusReduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and coronary heart disease and death.

The study concluded that cutting sodium intake to less than 2.3 grams per day and increasing potassium intake to more than 4 grams per day in adults could prevent about 2.5 million stroke and coronary heart disease deaths globally each year.

Obviously.Low-sodium salt is not only not "life-saving salt", but can be said to be "life-saving salt".

--Sorry, the claim that low-sodium salt is a life-preserving salt was first made by none other than this respondent when he debunked the rumor in 2016.

First, let's figure out what low-sodium salt is.

As we all know, the main ingredient of the salt we often talk about is sodium chloride. The most common commercially available salt is iodized salt, that is, potassium iodate is added to sodium chloride. Initially, the mandatory addition of iodine to salt was to reduce thyroid diseases caused by iodine deficiency, and now, with the change in people's dietary structure, the majority of the population no longer has iodine deficiency, so there is a non-iodized salt.

The low-sodium salt in the question, on the other hand, is based on iodized salt with about 30% potassium chloride and a small amount of magnesium sulfate added while maintaining the same saltiness. It can be understood as replacing sodium with a certain amount of potassium, thus reducing sodium intake, that is, reducing sodium without reducing saltiness.

The daily salt intake per person recommended by WHO is 6 g, while our nationals generally more than 20 g. This phenomenon can easily cause excessive sodium intake or iodine intake, so low-sodium salt and non-iodized salt came into being.

Our body's daily requirement of sodium intake should be less than 2000mg, while potassium intake should be at least 3510mg. If we follow the daily salt intake of 20g per person, our sodium intake has far exceeded our body's requirement, and excessive intake of sodium will result in water and sodium retention, increase in blood volume, and at the same time lead to thinning of vascular lumens and increase in vascular resistance, which will lead to increase in blood pressure, so sodium retention is is considered to be the initiating factor for primary hypertension. The results of several studies have already shown that there is a positive correlation between the sodium intake of the population and the incidence of hypertension. Therefore, the essence of low-sodium salt is to limit sodium and replenish potassium, thus attenuating the effect of high salt intake on blood pressure. This is the reason why low-sodium salt is called life-saving salt on the Internet.

In fact, many countries started to supply low-sodium salt many years ago, for example, Finland from 1978, the United States from 1982, our country is not an exception, and the long-term application also shows that low-sodium salt is a safe and effective way to prevent and control hypertension.

But the low-sodium salt that sounds so good is not suitable for everyone to use, we must not follow the trend. Low-sodium salt is suitable for middle-aged and elderly people and patients with high blood pressure and pregnant women to take for a long time, that is, can prevent high blood pressure, and can reduce the risk of death from stroke and heart disease, but one of the high-potassium medication users and renal insufficiency, as well as patients with high blood potassium need to follow the doctor's advice.

Since some potassium is used instead of sodium, a part of the population is not suitable for low-sodium salt due to its tendency to cause elevated blood potassium which affects the heart, which is why some claims on the Internet refer to low-sodium salt as a life-saving salt:

First, people suffering from kidney disease or renal insufficiency. As potassium ions are excreted through the kidneys, renal insufficiency will lead to the accumulation of potassium ions and elevation of blood potassium, which will predispose to heart rate abnormalities and bad effects on the heart.

Second, hypertensive patients taking potassium-preserving drugs. Although low sodium is preventive of hypertension, it is not suitable for patients who are taking antihypertensive drugs such as potassium retention diuretics, aldosterone antagonists, and renin-angiotensin system inhibitors, as it can also cause potassium retention, which can affect the heart.

Third, for athletes, manual laborers or people working in hot and humid environments, the use of low-sodium salt is very likely to cause hyponatremia due to heavy sweating.

In summary, low-sodium salt is neither life-saving salt nor life-saving salt, if you have to say, can only be said to be the honey of A, B arsenic it. It is difficult to have a thing in this world has universal applicability, before we due to various conditions of the limitations of the supply of salt using a one-size-fits-all, mandatory iodization, and now appeared in the non-iodized salt, low-sodium salt, it is the type of food continues to be subdivided in order to adapt to different groups of people, only to show that the society is progressing.

In fact, preventing high blood pressure doesn't have to be done through low-sodium salt; a diet with less salt can achieve the same results just as well.

Thank you, I hope my answer was helpful.