Dietary salt: Its harmful effect on health
"For adults: WHO recommends that adults consume less than 5 g (just under a teaspoon) of salt per day (1). For children: WHO recommends that the recommended maximum intake of salt for adults be adjusted downward for children aged two to 15 years based on their energy requirements relative to those of adults. #pmgengineering #foodprocessing #foodindustry #foodtechnology #foodscience #engineering #science"
Salt, chemically sodium chloride, is roughly 40% sodium and 60% chloride. In food processing it does far more than flavour: it works as a binder and a stabiliser, and it acts as a preservative, because bacteria cannot thrive in the presence of a high amount of salt. That functional versatility is exactly why sodium levels creep up across so many product categories.
The human body does require a small amount of sodium to conduct nerve impulses, and it is estimated that humans need about 500 mg of sodium daily for these vital functions. Actual intake sits far above that. Most people consume at least 1.5 teaspoons of salt per day, or about 3400 mg of sodium, which contains far more than our bodies need.
The consequences of that excess are well established. Too much sodium in the diet can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke. It can also cause calcium losses, some of which may be pulled from bone. For a formulation or product development team, the arithmetic is simple enough to work with directly: one teaspoon of fine iodized table salt carries approximately 2,300 mg of sodium, and one teaspoon of fine sea salt approximately 2,120 mg.
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