Salt Lite, Low Sodium Salt Good or Bad for your health

Last week when I went to my society grocery store for purchasing kitchen items. I was surprised when I didn’t get any normal table salt. He has only low sodium salt or lite salt of different brands. Then I remembered TV commercial of “Tata Light Salt”. As it was late evening and my kitchen is running out of salt so I purchased one packet of Tata Lite Salt and for my surprise it is Rs. 19-20.00 per KG while normal table salt of the same brand is Rs. 11-12.00 per Kg. Maybe storekeeper is getting more margin on these new salt products of these brands Tata, Safola and so on. As the price is almost double, I started research on the net about this salt.

As everyone knows that Salt is a very essential mineral for every living thing on this earth. We are consuming salt in different forms Unrefined Salt(Sea Salt or Salt we are using 20 years back:) ), Refined or table salt, Iodized salt and now this Lite salt. Major Source of salt is Sea, Dead Sea and some other.

On the wiki, I found that “Sodium is one of the primary electrolytes in the body. All four cationic electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium) are available in unrefined salt, as are other vital minerals needed for optimal bodily function. Too much or too little salt in the diet can lead to muscle cramps, dizziness, or electrolyte disturbance, which can cause neurological problems, or death.” and substitute for salt is“Salt intake can be reduced by simply reducing the quantity of salty foods in a diet, without recourse to salt substitutes. Salt substitutes have a taste similar to table salt and contain mostly potassium chloride, which will increase potassium intake. Excess potassium intake can cause hyperkalemia. Various diseases and medications may decrease the body’s excretion of potassium, thereby increasing the risk of hyperkalemia. Those who have kidney failure, heart failure or diabetes should seek medical advice before using a salt substitute. One manufacturer, LoSalt, has issued an advisory statement[76] that those taking the following prescription drugs should not use a salt substitute: amiloride, triamterene, Dytac, spironolactone (Aldactone), and eplerenone (Inspra).”

This wiki information is correct according to my knowledge that high sodium intake will increase your BP and low sodium intake will cause low BP problem so please intake sodium according to your health and what kind of physical exercise you practice.

And this low sodium salt or Salt light has more potassium chloride and human body requires more potassium but excessive potassium intake also cause problems for kidney, heart or diabetes patients and you can Google this.

India people do not require any potassium substitute as we are consuming a lot of potato and tuar daal which is a good resource of potassium.

So any iodized table salt or unrefined iodized salt is good for your health and you can control your sodium intake by reducing and increasing salt quantity in your diet there is no need of purchasing this New Type of salt with a salt substitute because it has only 15% low sodium. Please have a look at this calculation.

Normal salt itself contains 40 g of sodium per 100 g of salt.

Then Salt Lite will contain 34 g of sodium per 100 m (15% less).

If a human body requires 6 g sodium as balance intake then he should take 15 g normal salt in a day or 17.64 g Salt Lite.

So intake difference is 2.64 gm of salt which can be very easily managed by adding less salt in your diet and for your test, there should be no difference in 15 g and 16.64 g.

I will suggest you improve your basics for a healthy life. Everyone knows this but very few follow this especially in India. Please avoid this sugarless, Lite Salt, Lite oil until you doctor does not suggest these things.

Try to eat more unprocessed foods and do a lot of exercises.

Finally thanks to TATA who has clearly mentioned one this sentence on their Tata Salt Lite packet “Those on a Potassium restricted diet, please consult your doctor before use”

Have a very good lifestyle ..