Recent studies have shown that restrictions on salt are not really needed: no matter how much salt we may have eaten, the body takes exactly the amount it needs.
At present, developed countries have rather harsh rules of salt intake. Thus, healthy people in the U.S. are recommended not more than 2.3 mg of sodium (about half a teaspoon of salt) per day. The people suffering from hypertension and heart diseases should eat not more than 1.5 mg per day. It is yet a different question whether the Americans are careful about observing these rules, but a group of the researchers led by David McCarron found that the amount of sodium, absorbed by each particular person, is almost constant and varies in the range of 2.6 to 4.8 mg. These data were obtained as a result of the 50-year-long observations in 45 countries.
To be brief, we cannot absorb more salt than we need, and the “demands” of our body do not always correlate with medical standards. Excess salt is simply removed from the body among other wastes.
Those who are losing weight should not consume much salty food: salt contributes to water retention in the body and thus increases the vitally important numbers on the scale.
