What are the Health Benefits of Salt?
“[S]odium is crucial for maintaining the health of every cell in the human system. It permeates the fluid between cells (often called the extracellular fluid’) and potassium exists mainly on the inside of the cells (in the intracellular fluid’)…If either of these minerals is deficient or in excess, cell permeability becomes compromised and the health of all the cells suffers. Besides being a component of extracellular fluid that bathes every living cell, sodium is important in two other salty oceans’ in the body-our blood and our lymphatic fluid. It is also necessary for the production of hydrochloric acid, the digestive enzyme secreted by the stomach in order to digest protein. Along with potassium, sodium is required for the proper functioning of our nerves and the contraction of our muscles… With the many crucial roles sodium plays, it’s clear that if we had no sodium, we would cease to exist.” Gittleman also notes that “[R]educing sodium too much can be just as harmful as consu
