There are many kinds of salt sold in the market, except the most common common iodized salt and low sodium salt, there are calcium salt, zinc salt, selenium salt and so on. Some people may wonder, aren't we advocating a low-sodium diet now? Then it is also possible to choose low sodium salt, and the salt is not the same. Which salt will be healthier? In fact, "eating the wrong salt" will also bring subtle harm to the human body!
Tears from human lacrimal glands are still salty, including sweat, and the fetus is still in amniotic fluid, which is equivalent to being in a salty environment, which proves from the side that human beings can't live without salt. All the terrestrial animals in nature came from the ocean first, so people still keep the "traces of the ocean".
Salt undoubtedly plays a very important role in human body, and people need to take salt to adjust the electrolyte balance. Some normal functions of human nerves are also related to sodium intake. If the sodium content is low, it may induce muscle spasm. So salt is very important to people, and even this importance may be traced back to ancient times.
In ancient times, there was no toothbrush, and rich people would rinse their mouths with salt water to clean their mouths. Although toothpaste has corresponding functions now. However, some people still advocate sprinkling salt on the toothbrush when brushing your teeth. In fact, brushing your teeth directly with salt will damage your gums. The correct way is to rinse your mouth with salt water after meals.
The main component of salt is actually sodium chloride, which is an ion that almost all mammals need. People eat salt mainly for sodium ions in sodium chloride. Sodium ion can be understood as the main tool used by the brain to regulate cell characteristics. When the biological brain instructs the body to do some behaviors, it needs to transmit the information in the brain to all parts of the body through nerves. In the process of conduction, the brain needs to adjust the electrical characteristics of nerve cells to generate some specific currents.
Salt contains sodium ions and chloride ions. Salt is one of the most important condiments in life, but its influence on human body is not only condiments. It can also help maintain the balance between osmotic pressure and other physiological needs.
Salt also maintains the normal excitability of nerves and muscles. If the human body is short of salt, potassium ions will enter the blood from cells, and the content of sodium ions in the body will decrease, resulting in less urine, sticky blood and yellow skin.
The human body is very precise, and it is necessary to maintain the pH value in the body in a stable range. "Salt" participates in regulating the acid-base balance in human body. Whether it is too acidic or too alkaline, it will affect the health of the body, and sodium chloride plays a very important role in regulating acid-base balance.
High-concentration liquid will diffuse into low-concentration liquid, so salt also has osmotic pressure on human body. After eating salt, it can promote the absorption of food in the gastrointestinal tract and affect the metabolic ability of the human body. Generally speaking, northerners eat better salt than southerners, and the colder the place, the greater the salt intake.
Salt is essential for digestion, cell-to-cell communication, bone formation and strength, and preventing dehydration of the body. The human body needs salt to maintain the optimal blood volume, and even the heart needs salt to supply blood to the whole body.
People should drink electrolyte drinks after exercise, that is, mineral drinks, and the most common one is salt water. When a person sweats a lot, he will lose a lot of salt with the loss of water. The human body is obviously allergic to visual and auditory stimuli, and the body's resistance decreases. At this time, if water is simply added, it will lead to the occurrence of "water poisoning" symptoms such as rising body temperature, calf muscle spasm and coma.
A person who doesn't eat salt for a short time has little effect on the human body, but if a person doesn't eat salt for a long time, it will cause loss of appetite, weakness of limbs and dizziness. In severe cases, it can also cause anorexia, nausea, vomiting and other symptoms, and even lead to death.
1. iodized salt
Iodized salt has obvious effect on reducing goiter, cretinism and cognitive impairment. At present, the common salt in the market is generally iodized salt with a certain dose of potassium iodide and potassium iodate. The iodine content of iodized salt in different areas may be slightly different. For example, in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the iodine content per100g of salt is 2250 micrograms.
Iodized salt is mainly consumed by residents in iodine-deficient areas. Iodine deficiency is very harmful to health, but excessive iodine supplementation is also harmful to health. "High iodine areas" should buy non-iodized salt, because eating too much iodized salt is unnecessary and will cause other diseases. High iodine, like low iodine, can also cause goiter and even hyperthyroidism.
Thyroid hormone participates in the metabolism of protein, fat, carbohydrate and energy, and promotes the growth and development, especially the growth and development of the brain. Iodine is the main raw material for human body to synthesize thyroid hormone, and it is also a necessary micronutrient for human metabolism, growth and development. 、
2. Low sodium salt
Iodine exists in nature, and the iodine content is very low in most parts of China. People mainly get iodine from drinking water, food, vegetables and the surrounding environment, but the iodine intake from local drinking water, food, vegetables and the surrounding environment can not meet the needs of the human body.
If a person eats too much salt, his blood pressure will rise sharply. In fact, it is not salt that causes hypertension, but salt contains a lot of sodium chloride, which will lead to an increase in blood pressure. Low sodium salt is more suitable for patients with hypertension, which reduces sodium intake and naturally controls blood pressure more smoothly.
Low sodium salt is a new type of healthy salt developed in recent years, which is based on iodized salt and added with a certain amount of potassium chloride. The content of sodium will be lower than that of ordinary salt, and the taste of low-sodium salt and ordinary crystal is not much different, and it will not affect appetite. It has a certain preventive effect on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases such as hypertension and contributes to the balance of sodium and potassium in the body.
At present, in order to achieve the purpose of "reducing sodium", most of the low-sodium salts sold in the market use ordinary salt (iodized salt) as raw material, increase the potassium ion content, and add a certain amount of potassium chloride (generally about 30%) to reduce the sodium ion content. It can also be simply understood that low sodium salt is adding potassium chloride to ordinary salt.
Because potassium in low sodium salt can resist high sodium by dilating blood vessels, reducing vascular resistance and increasing urinary sodium excretion, low sodium salt is most suitable for middle-aged and elderly people and hypertensive patients to eat for a long time. Intake of low sodium salt can help the human body achieve the balance of sodium and potassium, and reduce the risk of hypertension and cardiovascular diseases.
3. Selenium salt
Selenium is as essential as commonly used iodine. Selenium is one of the trace elements with a wide range of functions in human body. First of all, it can enhance immunity, form antioxidant enzymes in the body, protect the cell membrane from oxidative damage and maintain its permeability. Secondly, selenoproteins can reduce the toxicity of poisons and chelate toxins such as heavy metals.
70% of China is deficient in selenium. In areas with low selenium content, it is more suitable to use selenium nutrients. Selenium itself is a healthy trace element, but there are few ways to obtain selenium naturally, so it is difficult to absorb it naturally. However, in some areas such as Enshi, Hubei, the selenium content is relatively high, which is not suitable for use.
People can prevent and regulate cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases of middle-aged and elderly people by adding selenium to salt. Selenium deficiency is one of the main causes of Keshan disease. There are also various types of selenium-enriched salts, selenium-enriched nutritional salts, selenium-enriched salts and selenium-enriched salts specially made for trace element selenium deficiency. Therefore, people with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases at home can also choose to add selenium salt appropriately.
Appropriate selenium supplementation is a good way to improve immunity and delay aging. It should be noted that cancer and selenium supplementation are not equal, which does not mean that people who supplement selenium will not get cancer. If you want to stay healthy, you should not only pay attention to selenium, but also strengthen your body's armor against various viruses while strengthening your antibodies.
There are many kinds of salt in daily life, and the price is different. Many people think that the more expensive the salt, the better. In fact, the nutrients added by expensive salt are not enough to meet the needs of the human body for one day. Salt is only to supplement sodium ions and chloride ions needed by human body, and to make food more delicious. In life, there is no need to pursue the nutrients added by high potassium salt, so we can choose normal iodized salt.
In addition, to stay away from high-sodium foods, the most common food representative with excessive sodium content is takeaway. Eating take-away food has become the norm for many young people, but many take-away foods are not only unsanitary, but also high in oil and salt. According to the national dietary guidelines, everyone's daily salt intake must be strictly controlled within 6 grams.
Cooking should be light at ordinary times Don't add salt in the food preparation stage. Pay attention to the use of high-sodium condiments when cooking, such as soy sauce, monosodium glutamate and chicken essence. People who prepare food need to pay attention to the amount of sodium put in, and you can prepare a salt-limiting spoon at home. Common salt-limiting spoons are 1g, 2g and 6g.
It should be noted that the daily salt intake needs to be calculated together. When cooking on weekdays, you can add seasoning salt at the end to make the salt adhere to the surface of the dish, thus reducing the salt intake. In this way, patients with hypertension can complete the task of limiting salt, which is conducive to the rehabilitation of patients with hypertension.
In order to increase customers' appetite, many businesses will spend a lot of money to put in a lot of salt. Many people think that take-away food smells better than home cooking because these meals contain a lot of oil, salt and seasonings, which will cause health problems if eaten for a long time.
Keep light eating habits in life and put less salt in cooking. Nowadays, we not only eat vegetable salt, but also have invisible salt in many products, such as hot pot bottom material and sand tea sauce. When using high-salt condiments such as soy sauce and salt, please add them in the form of dipping to avoid adding soy sauce and other substances at one time and reduce the intake. For your own health, you should eat as little as possible.
Baby's sensitivity to salt is much higher than that of adults, and the taste of food can't be measured by adult's standards, otherwise the baby will consume too much salt. Parents should pay attention to reducing the salt content when cooking for their children. Cook for your baby alone, don't let him eat the same meal as his family too early, and don't take the taste of adults as the criterion. After the baby 1 year old, you can eat iodized salt appropriately. When cooking or making soup, it is better to add salt when cooking quickly or out of the pot.
As for the specific salt to buy, it depends on the region and your own situation. Eating too much is good for your health, and eating wrong may be harmful to your health. If the renal function is poor or you are taking drugs that affect renal potassium excretion, it is good to choose common iodized salt or non-iodized salt. From the health point of view, low sodium salt is relatively healthy and suitable for almost everyone, especially patients with hypertension.
Whether it is iodized salt, low sodium salt or non-iodized salt, no one is good or bad, only what suits you is the best.