Salt series V: How we lose salt and the body in a low salt state
It's problematic when we lose too much salt. The kidneys have to work harder, which can lead to damage in this organ. But it's not only that. Low salt causes many, many other symptoms.
And guess what: Low salt may actually lead to the very disease state we are trying to prevent: Hypertension (high blood pressure)! "What the hell!? And why?", you might think now. But let me explain:
First, how do we actually lose salt?
You drink coffee? A lot? Well, you better ramp up your salt intake! This is why: Caffeine causes salt loss. When you drink 4 cups of coffee a day, you lose the equivalent of 1 teaspoon of salt!
We also lose about 0.5-1 teaspoon of salt per hour of exercise, competitive soccer player may even lose up 6g!!! Mainly, we sweat it out.
Little side note here: Also, a lot of copper is lost through sweat, about 0.5mg per hour. The problem with that is that we don't ingest enough copper from our diet. Copper is mainly found in plant foods, and we all know that these are the foods we eat the most of, right? ;P
Second (but even more important) side note: We lose about 100 micrograms of iodine per hour of exercise. Yet we are "told" to consume about 150 micrograms a day. No wonder, when people ramp up their exercise regimen, at some point they'll just gain weight! Crazy stuff! It's due to a nutritional deficiency in iodine, which causes hypothyroidism (negatively affects energy balance and energy regulation in the body which leads to increased fat storage and decreased metabolism). This also happened to me to be honest. But now I know better ;P
The big question: What happens when the body is deficient in salt?
With a low salt diet, blood pressure does go down, this is true. BUT the reason for that and the side effects are not to underrate. Blood pressure goes down because blood volume goes down. Less blood, less pressure. In fact, having a smaller blood volume is not good.
While blood pressure decreases, the heart rate goes up when sodium levels fall below 3000mg a day! And this is also something we don't want! What is scarier is that the effect on heart rate rising are stronger than the actual decrease in blood pressure. From this point of view, we are doing more harm than good.
Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is a condition where patients experience an increase in heart rate by over 30 beats per minute (!!!) when they change from a lying/seated position into a standing one. Guess what: it can be cured by just giving salt.
Salt is also crucial for the digestive tract. As you know, we have hydrochloric acid in our stomach to help break down food. Salt is providing the necessary component chloride. When salt gets too low, our body cannot produce enough stomach acid which leads to malabsorption and maldigestion of nutrients and SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth).
When salt state is low, stress hormones like adrenalin and noradrenalin get chronically elevated. But they're only supposed to kick in when we are racing or in a certain stress situation. Now they're turned on all the time.
Artery stiffening hormones like aldosterone are elevated too when salt gets too low. We block them with meds to prevent cardiovascular events! But with the low salt advice we increase them! Through the low salt advice we are literally told to increase our risk of a cardiovascular events. And this just for the potentially blood pressure lowering effects of a low salt diet...
Low salt also leads to adrenal fatigue, as the adrenal glands constantly
have to pump out hormones like aldosterone. This causes adrenal hypertrophy in
animal studies. Eventually, the adrenals burn out. And so does the human being.
He gets a burnout. Great.
HRV (heart rate variability) is affected too, it decreases, which is bad.
On blood work, you can see that triglycerides go up, HDL (good cholesterol) decreases too and LDL (bad cholesterol) goes up!
The sympathetic (aka fight or flight) nervous system is constantly activated because the body feels itself in a very stressful situation. There's not enough salt to provide normal body function. In the long term, this means death!
Uric acid goes up as well as. When there are low sodium levels in the urine, despite you consuming adequate amounts, it might indicate that your body is either holding onto it because he needs it because you are salt deficient. Or it might tell you that you are not absorbing salt well. This is sometimes the case when you have a gut disease like celiac, ulcerative colitis or crones disease.
Last but not least (surprise): insulin levels are affected too! Insulin helps the kidneys retain more salt, and when you are already in a low salt state, your body will do everything to keep the bit of salt that is left! Chronically elevated insulin levels increase fat storage (you literally store more fat per calorie you consume!), decrease insulin sensitivity and can lead to type II diabetes.
When following the low salt advice, we are putting ourselves at risk for all these health problems! And guess which health issues are most prevalent in the western world... You guessed it right: Diabetes, high blood pressure, chronic fatigue, sleeping issues, burnout,...
Read the next article here: Salt and excercise
