SALT - are you scared of it?

Sorry you felt lumped in with that...was referring to RonSwanson telling PU to stop making things up and other rude comments

For a board who is so afraid of teh insulinz and teh bad carbz, people around here sure like things sugarcoated.

The thing is that once you start saying "table salt isn't sodium chloride; it's a mixture" because they added minute amounts of iodine, you can do that with pretty much anything. This butter isn't really butter because it's salted butter. This apple juice isn't apple juice because it's got added vitamin C as a preservative. Nothing we eat is a 100% pure chemical compound with no impurities or additions but to be honest, table salt is probably closer to being a pure compound than anything else we eat. It's also closer to being pure sodium chloride than sea salt is.

i have found nothing degrading or offensive in what you said. You just said what was in your salt. So no worries in that sense. Yeah Sodium Bicarbonate can be a byproduct. With iodine, that can be a big possibility. Yes Sodium Bicarbonate is used to maintain the pH balance of our blood. I don't get the dextrose though. If you're saying dextrose is a binding agent. Possible. When salt is put in water(wet) it would break up in to its ions. Na+, Cl- as you probably know, but this goes to solubility.

My hypothesis (and I have no way to test this) is that the dextrose is there to bind H2O and not the salt. Since there is H2O in the air, the salt is going to absorb it (or actually, the water absorbs the salt... but since the water is in smaller quantities... erm... I'm over-complicating things). Anyway... I suspect that the salt would reform into larger crystals when the water evaporates away instead of the small ones we like to shake over our food. So the dextrose could, possibly, keep the water away from the salt and keep the salt in small crystals by binding the water and not letting it bind the NaCl.

Alternatively... the dextrose could just space the NaCl crystals out so that they can't interact as easily with other NaCl crystals.

People put rice in their salt shakers for similar reasons... so maybe dextrose is being used simply as an anti-caking measure.

Regardless... dextrose isn't toxic at all. If I remember right, it's even used in some I.V. drips.

Iodine can be toxic in large quantities, but you can buy salt without iodine.

Sea salt is probably a great source of salt... and I have no grips with people that use it. I use it sometimes 'cause it seems exotic to me. I don't know why... it just does. Same goes with those little colored peppercorn balls (you know, instead of the black ones).

Adequate iodine is needed for the normal metabolism of cells, making it an essential component of diet if you are trying to lose weight or are an athlete

Yet the author recommends against table salt (which contains iodine due to the addition of KI) and recommends sea salt, which has little to no iodine:

"It is a myth (often also false advertising) that “natural” sea salt contains significant amounts of iodine. The iodide content of seawater is only 64 µg/kg or 2.1 mg I/kg NaCl. In evaporatively prepared salt, the iodide/chloride ratio is even lower because of iodine loss; crystallization processes leave iodide selectively in the mother liquor. "

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es0719071

The thing is that once you start saying "table salt isn't sodium chloride; it's a mixture" because they added minute amounts of iodine, you can do that with pretty much anything. This butter isn't really butter because it's salted butter. This apple juice isn't apple juice because it's got added vitamin C as a preservative. Nothing we eat is a 100% pure chemical compound with no impurities or additions but to be honest, table salt is probably closer to being a pure compound than anything else we eat. It's also closer to being pure sodium chloride than sea salt is.

I agree.

The problem with the word "salt" is that it has two different meanings. The common meaning is NaCl, and NaCl is the major ingredient in table salt and in sea salt.

But... in chemistry, "salt" means an ionic compound. I even refer to some of my drugs as "salts". NaCl is a salt. Sodium bicarbonate is a salt. Potassium iodide is a salt. Sodium silicoaluminate is a salt. Dextrose is not a salt

Language is such a funny thing and it can be hard to communicate when word definitions shift depending on context.

Not scared about it! but Highly processed foods often just have too much of this necessary item in them....I've read that 1500mg daily is generally all that is needed when you are older, such as over 60, and 5,000 mg daily, or more for an extended period of time can be harmful. An occasional high usage will only give you dry mouth, and water retention......Mostly I just think we all need a little common sense.....Salt occurs naturally in most vegetables, and is needed, but I don't think anyone needs a cup of soup with 950mg or more.......taste is enhanced with much less. I prefer to use less highly processed foods and get most of my sodium from herbs and whole foods, but then that provides a lot more fiber, and that's a whole other topic...............Just eat and enjoy our food , and don't be excessive!!!!!!....... My 2 cents worth, I imagine we will all continue to do what we want anyway in spite of anything we read!!!!!!!

I've never heard of the salt hypothosis, but I don't like a lot of salt in most foods so I rarely give it a thought. I can tell when I've eaten too much because I bloat up, but again, since I don't like a lot in most foods so that's not often.

Fighting with a chemist about chemicals and minerals is like going 10 rounds with Mohammed Ali...you might get in a couple jabs, but in the end you will be KO.

As to the article...good read. People don't realize that we DO need salt, just not 4000mg a day (like many people get). Athletes need more because of sweating it out and protein synthesis. I usually run about 800-1200 a day, which is completely aporopriate. Some days I am higher but rarely lower. When I cook, I will use sea salt, but I don't add a bunch because I'm not keen on things being too salty. I'm not intimidated by salt intake because since I don't eat a ton of processed foods, I don't get an overabundance.

I eat about 3000mg daily which sounds high until we consider the 6000 I was getting on my previous diet.

I am happy with this.

There was a time when salt was as valuable as a current life insurance policy. Modern day society and the low-fat, carbs-gon'-makeya fat diet advice has put alot of misinformation out there, just read the boards here.

I love me some sodium! I'm always over and I don't care.

Sighhhh, finally!!! Not scared of salt. I'm a salty sweat-er, I need it!! Moderation is my motto...

Edited to Add: There was an article in Runner's World that put my mind at ease about sodium... I should dig it out...

Thanks for the info Chris... always a fountain of knowledge

not scared, but I avoid it because at my age it tends to cause swelling in the fingers and ankle/feet area.

Depends on where the salt if from......... ie in a lunch to put in the microwave from Asda, I am sure it is not good for you, but my salts that I put in my water every day...... ARE.................. xx Irons and more positive irons please xxxxxxx

84 trace minerals and elements in salt and 92 are present in our bodies, now we need these... The soil is already depleted.... We are not getting enough from our fruit and veg................. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Anyway, nice read!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.saltyourselfout.co.uk/

Where I get mine from, "Swear by it" just soak the lumps of salt and have a table spoon a day of the water in the container, then add more water to keep it topped up xxxxxxxxxxxxxx I love it

I am 40 my fingers and other parts of me are not swollen from this!! But this is not rubbish you would get from a shop, this is raw............. xx