Does Salt-free Prevent High Blood Pressure?
© By Lena Sanchez
 
Hypertensive (high blood pressure) people are being told to stop salt intake under the assumption that will cure the sodium problem. Is that a smart move? Read on to find the answer!
 
In past societies salt was valuable for its health properties but that was before modern processing removed those healthy properties.
 
Salt was used as currency during the Roman rule.  Roman soldiers were paid in salt. The Latin word sal is the root for the English word salary. Based on this, I'm sure you have heard the familiar phrase that a person is "worth their salt", meaning worth the wages they receive.
 
Pure non-chemicalized salt consumption is absolutely necessary to our survival!
 
Our conventional medical world continues telling people that their blood pressure problem can be eliminated by using salt substitutes. An eight-year study of a New York
City's hypertensive population found those on low-salt diets had more than four times as many heart attacks as those on normal-sodium diets the exact opposite of what the salt hypothesis predicted. (1995) What they didn't study was the salt substitutes and how they fit into that equation! Hence we weren't given the complete picture.
 
Our regular table salt no longer has anything in common with the original crystal salt. Salt these days is mainly sodium chloride and not salt. The common commercial table salt used by most people for cooking has only 2 or 3 chemical elements. Old world salt had 84 chemical elements.
 
Our body requires those 84 elements for total health.
 
Common table salt consumed by most is deficit of 81 elements as well as contains byproducts gained during the processing phase, which means we are somehow contributing to the whole population is weaker, imbalanced and more susceptible to diseases.
 
Table salt produced by the early pioneers was of excellent quality and full of those 84 elements, but man looked for something more convenient but as in so many cases convenience tends to mean processing everything out that is good for us!
 
Kosher salt is an additive-free coarse grained salt, used by Jews in the preparation of meat. It is also used by gourmet cooks who prefer its texture and flavor. Used by them because it is healthy and good for those who eat the food seasoned with it.
 
While most salt start out as salt, they don't always end up that way.  Sadly, normal table salt these days begins as a saline solution. Then after processing and kiln drying at temperatures in excess of 400 degrees, its natural state is drastically changed and nearly all trace minerals are lost. Then chemicals are added like Silico Aluminate, Potassium Iodide, Tri-calcium Phosphate, Magnesium Carbonate, Sodium bicarbonate, and yellow prussiate of soda just to name a few. These are added to bleach the salt, prevent caking, and aid in free-flowing so your salt will flow free on humid days. But what are those additives doing to your body?
 
The funny thing is that the Food & Drug Administration usually lets companies leave their processing aides off their ingredient lists, as long as the material is being used in a small-enough concentration. Which qualifies in 100% of the companies processing steps.
 
Did you know that two of the inorganic chemicals used in processing salt is also used to make many consumer related products, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic?
 
The other additives are anti-caking agents such as calcium silicate, magnesium carbonate, calcium carbonate, and other compounds. They are insoluble in water, which not only prevents them from forming clumps in humid environments - thus keeping the soluble crystals of sodium chloride separate, but also explains why water becomes slightly cloudy when salt with these additives is dissolved in water. These are all odorless and flavorless substances and contribute nothing to our body but what they do once inside our body? We can only guess as studies have not been done to tell us
 
Are salt substitutes better?
 
Salt substitutes are supposed to be free of sodium but are they? Some are and some aren't but all have potassium chloride, which is dangerous to the very ones who seem to be consuming it for health reasons. Salt free diets are usually recommended to those who have hypertension and/or heart problems. Making this dangerous to the very ones who are taking heart and hypertension medications in
conjunction with the salt substitute.
 
Listed below are the top salt substitutes and the amounts of potassium and sodium in each.
 
*No Salt -- 1/4 tsp.: 650 mg. Potassium/0 mg. sodium
*Morton's Lite Salt -- 1/4 tsp.: 350 mg. Potassium/290 mg. sodium
*Morton's Salt Substitute -- 1/4 tsp.: 610 mg. Potassium/0 mg. sodium
*Cardia Salt Alternative -- 1/4 tsp.: 180 mg. Potassium/270 mg. Sodium
 
As you can see Potassium chloride is a common ingredient in salt substitutes. Too much potassium can be harmful if you have kidney problems or you're taking certain medications to treat high blood pressure or heart problems. Potassium-sparing diuretic drugs causes your body to retain potassium. Just about every person with hypertension or
certain heart diseases is given a diuretic drug! If you take a potassium-sparing diuretic and use a salt substitute containing potassium your life could be in danger. Too much potassium build up in your body is potentially life-threatening by creating kidney failure and/or heart rhythm disturbances and possible death.
 
If you wish to use a salt substitute then make your own! Click Here for Recipe
 
I recommend and use sea salt, no aluminum or contaminants as it is simply salt, dried and ground just as it comes from the sea. Same flavor results in your taste buds but without
contaminates from the extraction process as in regular salt.
 
Be healthy and wise at the same time.