Sodium is a mineral that carries and electric charge making sodium one of the electrolytes in the body. The other common electrolytes are calcium, chloride, magnesium, phosphorous, and potassium. Electrolytes have some very important functions including regulating muscle function and contraction (including the heart), regulating the body’s PH level, and affecting how much water is in the body at any given time. [i] Sodium, therefore, plays a role in regulating the body’s blood volume and, consequently, blood pressure. [ii]
Your body only needs about 50 mg of sodium per day in order to function at optimal levels. This amount is easily achieved by eating a whole-food, plant-based diet because sodium occurs naturally in many vegetables and drinking water.ii On the other hand, too much sodium in the diet has been linked to stomach cancer and high blood pressure. In addition, too much sodium in one’s diet causes the body to pull out calcium when the excess sodium is excreted in the urine. This sets a person up for osteoporosis. To top it off, high levels of sodium increase a person’s chances of having a heart attack. In a prospective study published in a popular medical journal Lancet, the researchers concluded “High sodium intake predicted mortality and risk of coronary heart disease, independent of other cardiovascular risk factors, including high blood pressure.” [iii]
A famous study conducted in 1997 known as the DASH study, perhaps you have heard of the DASH diet, found that Americans consume somewhere between five and ten times the amount of sodium as they need.[iv] The American Heart Association estimates that if American’s could just cut their sodium levels to 1,500 mg per day, “there would be nearly 26 percent decrease in high blood pressure and a savings of more than $26 billion in healthcare costs over just a year.” [v]
It is worth noting that sea salt contains just as much sodium as table salt – they both contain about 40% sodium. The only difference between sea salt and table salt is that table salt is processed and sea salt is just dehydrated seawater. If you are trying to avoid processed foods, sea salt is a better choice, but keep in mind that it doesn’t take much salt to add up to 1,500 mg (1/4 t of salt has over 500 mg of sodium).
Keeping your sodium levels in check is one tool in your healthy plant-based lifestyle toolbox that can really make a big difference when it comes to your overall health especially in the arena of high blood pressure and heart disease.
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