Sodium is a major mineral our bodies depend on to function optimally. It works with two other minerals – potassium and chloride – to maintain water balance and regulate blood pressure. Sodium also helps maintain acid/base balance, carry carbon dioxide, transmit nerve impulses, and contact muscles.
About 75 percent of ht sodium we consume each day comes from packaged, processed foods and beverages and restaurant foods (including fast food). Only about 25 percent comes from table salt (sodium chloride) that’s added while preparing, cooking, or eating food and from sodium found naturally in foods and beverages such as eggs, fish and shellfish, meats, poultry, milk and milk products, and softened water. One teaspoon of table salt contains 2,325 mg of sodium, more than the 2,300 mg upper limit (UL), the tolerable upper intake level per day set by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences.
Salt is made of sodium and chloride. Because 40% of salt is sodium, you can figure out how much salt a product contains by multiplying the milligrams of sodium listed on the Nutrition Facts Panel by 2.5. For example, if a can of soup contains 500 milligrams of sodium, 500 multiplied by 2.5 equals 1,250 milligrams of salt.
Consuming less than 500 milligrams o sodium each day can cause headache, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, muscle cramps, and fainting.
Consuming too much sodium can contribute to the development of a number of health problems, including hypertension (high blood pressure), in those who are salt-sensitive. High blood pressure raises your risk of heart disease, stroke, heart failure, and kidney disease. Experts believe that about half of those with hypertension and about one in four who have so-called normal blood pressure can be salt-sensitive. Salt sensitivity also increases conditions such as left ventricular hypertrophy in which the heart’s main pumping chamber is enlarged and does not function properly. It also raises the risk of kidney problems. Researchers believe that the following people are more likely to be salt-sensitive than their counterparts:
• People with hypertension, diabetes, or kidney disease
• People who have a family member with hypertension
• Middle-aged and older adults
• African Americans
Genetic factors can also play a role in how salt intake affects blood pressure. Unfortunately, there are currently no tests you can take to determine if you’re salt sensitive.
A high sodium intake can also have other harmful effects. If you consume too much sodium and at the same time don’t get enough dietary calcium, the excess sodium can promote calcium loss from bones, resulting in bone fractures and osteoporosis.
Too much sodium without enough water can also promote dehydration, which is a concern for athletes in particular. Although the kidney of healthy people can usually excrete excessive sodium from the body, those with impaired kidney function who overconsume sodium might not be able to and instead, can store excess sodium. That can lead to edema, or selling in the face, legs, and feet.
Hypertension (high blood pressure) is persistently elevated blood pressure greater than 14/90 mmHg (millimeters of mercury).
Showing posts with label mineral. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mineral. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
The Antistress Mineral
Magnesium gets no respect. Other nutrients, like calcium, folic acid or iron, are in the news all the time, and even vitamin D has been getting some press of late. But you never hear about magnesium. Big mistake.
This mineral helps in more than 300 processes in the body. In fact, every cell in your body needs this mineral. That might explain why it helps lower the risk for diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, osteoporosis and much more. Yet three out of four Americans don’t get enough.
Why Magnesium?
When it comes to mood, magnesium is a major player. Stress triggers the release of stress hormones that drain magnesium from the body. In turn, low magnesium levels raise stress hormones, escalating the stress response. Studies on animals show that low magnesium intake increases sensitivity to noise and crowding and escalates stress-included diseases, such as ulcers, while animals fed magnesium-rich diets cope better and are at lower risk for disease. Studies on people under pressure at work to meet ridiculously tight deadlines cope far better when their diets are rich in magnesium but are more likely to freak out if they aren’t.
Women who get crabby, depressed and downright difficult to live with the 10 to 14 days before their periods also need more magnesium. Magnesium levels drop during the last two weeks of the menstrual cycle, which might contribute to PMS symptoms, such as water retention, cramping, headaches and an oversensitive nervous system (feeling crabby, irritable and edgy?). Increasing intake of magnesium helps curb these symptoms – even to recommended levels is enough to see improvement for symptoms for some women.
How Much Do You Need?
You need about 320 to 500 milligrams of this feel-good nutrient every day. That doesn’t sound like much until you realize that most of the magnesium gold mines in the diet are foods many people don’t typically include in generous amounts, such as avocados, oysters, bananas and the super mood foods wheat germ, whole grains, cooked dried beans and peas and dark green leafy vegetables.
If you choose to supplement, look for the best absorbed forms, such as magnesium oxide, citrate or hydroxide. But don’t go overboard on this mineral! It is the active ingredient in Milk of Magnesia, which means that too much can loosen more than your muscles, leaving you in the bathroom rather than at the party.
This mineral helps in more than 300 processes in the body. In fact, every cell in your body needs this mineral. That might explain why it helps lower the risk for diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, osteoporosis and much more. Yet three out of four Americans don’t get enough.
Why Magnesium?
When it comes to mood, magnesium is a major player. Stress triggers the release of stress hormones that drain magnesium from the body. In turn, low magnesium levels raise stress hormones, escalating the stress response. Studies on animals show that low magnesium intake increases sensitivity to noise and crowding and escalates stress-included diseases, such as ulcers, while animals fed magnesium-rich diets cope better and are at lower risk for disease. Studies on people under pressure at work to meet ridiculously tight deadlines cope far better when their diets are rich in magnesium but are more likely to freak out if they aren’t.
Women who get crabby, depressed and downright difficult to live with the 10 to 14 days before their periods also need more magnesium. Magnesium levels drop during the last two weeks of the menstrual cycle, which might contribute to PMS symptoms, such as water retention, cramping, headaches and an oversensitive nervous system (feeling crabby, irritable and edgy?). Increasing intake of magnesium helps curb these symptoms – even to recommended levels is enough to see improvement for symptoms for some women.
How Much Do You Need?
You need about 320 to 500 milligrams of this feel-good nutrient every day. That doesn’t sound like much until you realize that most of the magnesium gold mines in the diet are foods many people don’t typically include in generous amounts, such as avocados, oysters, bananas and the super mood foods wheat germ, whole grains, cooked dried beans and peas and dark green leafy vegetables.
If you choose to supplement, look for the best absorbed forms, such as magnesium oxide, citrate or hydroxide. But don’t go overboard on this mineral! It is the active ingredient in Milk of Magnesia, which means that too much can loosen more than your muscles, leaving you in the bathroom rather than at the party.
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