MONITOR YOUR SALT INTAKE

Glass bottle containing table salt

Medically common salt otherwise known as  table salt is good especially iodized one. This is because deficiency of iodine in the body may cause goiter. There is no doubt that any food that does not contain salt may not have an apealing taste. Hence people  add salt to their food to 
bring out the taste. The chemical formular of table salt in question is NaCl (Sodium Chloride). In solution the salt dissociates to liberate Na+ and Cl-.  Although I have said before that salt is good, it is equally  bad for for our health. 

As we grow old, the body tends to experience more of catabolic processes going on within. One of them is calcium loss and phosporous loss from the bones. It is worthy of note that the heart which is an important organ in the body needs calcium at all times to function optimally.  When these calciums are deficient in the body, there will be a problem. Remember that heart is a typical muscle which contracts and relaxes right from the time of ones conception. Calcium re-invigorates the heart.  While sodium tends to cause water retention in the body. Too much salt intake interfers with the operations of the heart but this is more pronounced in old age. Reducing salt intake and increasing calcium intake reduces the chances of High Blood pressure and of course heart disease. It is advisable that every salt one takes is cooked to reduce the chances of developing heart related problem.

Digital Blood Pressure Monitor

 Unfortunately these days in Nigeria, people are frequently reported to have slumped and in most cases died. Most of the times, the cause of all these sudden deaths is unchecked blood pressure which may escalate to hypertension. Normal blood pressure is 120/80mmHg. The upper limit is the systolic pressure and is the pressure of the blood on the artery as it pumps blood out of the heart while the lower limit is the diastolic pressure which is the pressure when the heart is resting before pumping another blood.

So many factors alter the blood pressure but this topic is restricted to the effect of salts in our diets.  Other factors will be treated in in subsequent blogs that will be coming shortly.  In effect, I would like to advise Nigerians that especailly once you are above 35years of age to minimize the salt in the diets we take. Replace it with foods that rich in calcium examples are fruits and  vegetables.Garlic is good although it tends to give mouth odour.

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