Is sodium an important factor in weight loss?

Sublog

Hi, my trainer stresses that I eat foods low in fat, sugar and sodium. I understand the first two, but does it really make a big difference if I'm eating higher amounts of sodium versus lower amounts. Obviously, the less is better. but will it really slow me down if I'm eating higher amounts of sodium?

I ask because I'm in korea and there are plenty of dishes that are okay calorie-wise but are quite high in sodium, especially soups and broth-based dishes. What do you all say?

Weight loss, yes.. Fat loss, no.

LillysGranny

Many medical experts beleive that long-term excessive sodium consumption is what causes our blood pressure to creep up over the years, resulting in a huge number of Americans ending up on blood pressure meds. Additionally, excessive sodium is hard on your kidneys. As far as weight loss, I do not think sodium will prevent you from losing fat, but the associated water retention can prevent you from seeing results on the scale and from achieving a "cut" appearance when you look in the mirror. Listen to your trainer!

ArtemisMoon

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/opinion/sunday/we-only-think-we-know-the-truth-about-salt.html?pagewanted=all

This was a very interesting read on salt. It makes me want to read the research about the negative impacts of sodium.

I went to read this.......and then I saw the author was Gary Taubes. I decided not to waste my time.

Here's a study:

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(97)09092-2/fulltext

Starting to question my own relationship with sodium.

Dunno much about Taubes so I can't say much about his opinion, but I am certainly interested in the studies. Thanks for providing a link! I have an acct with the University library to read a lot of professional journals for free so I'll have to go check around and see what other studies are out there and available to me.

I think a lot of conventional wisdom is being questioned more and more these days, and it is a good thing. I want to get down to the heart of the matter and be able to examine the evidence for myself. Not just do what everyone else says to do or accept something as healthy just because the general population is told to by a few people.

Cliffslosinit

sodium will not affect fat loss.

jjelizalde

I went way over on my sodium intake the past few days and it shows on the scale. Although I stayed within my calories, the excess sodium caused water retention. Yuck! Today I'm drinking tons of water to flush out the sodium and staying below my sodium goal and that will also be reflected on the scale.

UpEarly

It never made any difference to me.

I've always heard that sodium doesn't slow fat loss, but it may slow weight loss (as in, the number on the scale) because high sodium makes people retain water.

Maybe it's just the way my body works (I'm a heavy sweater) or the fact that I drink a lot of water, but I've never had a problem with water retention or bloating.

In fact, when I eat too little sodium, my blood pressure gets too low and I get dizzy.

Masterdo

I don't worry about it too much. Sodium causes water retention, but you truly don't care, you want to lose fat anyway like you said.

In excess though, it can cause nasty things in your body, so make sure you actually drink plenty of water on days you go over sodium.

But yeah, Soy Sauce, which is in like every Asian sauce, has 1k+ mg of sodium per table spoon! People there have been eating this for millennia and they outlive people in America, so I don't worry too much about pure sodium. I worry when I get it from processed craps...

kalynn06

As others have said, weight loss- probably yes, fat loss no.

For most purposes, total sodium consumed may be less important than sodium potassium ratio. Potassium often gets overlooked when people talk about sodium, but physiologically they are pretty much joined at the hip.