Let's talk salt, or sodium! Whatever we want to call it there are a few misconceptions about it being bad for our health, especially with the growing anti-salt movement. While yes, eating too much salt can lead to hypertension especially in certain ethic groups vs. others. It should also be noted that eating too little can cause issues within our health too!
Sodium is an extremely important electrolyte that plays a huge role pertaining to fluid balance in and around the cells in our body. Low sodium levels can lead to low blood pressure but also issues with nerve cell function, muscles of the heart and digestion.
Although, the average person will lose some sodium when sweating or urinating. It's not enough to actually cause your sodium levels to lower a substantial amount that would affect your health, unless you are malnourished. The food that we eat will replace the sodium that was lost. However, it is possible to deplete your sodium levels if you overexert yourself and lose excessive amounts of sodium through sweating or by drinking too much water and diluting your sodium concentration.
Hyponatremia can occur, which is caused by an extreme loss of sodium. This is why athletes are advised to consume electrolyte rich drinks to restore what was lost during extensive training. Regarding the issue with consuming too much water, it's not a common problem to run into. You'd have to drink more than 5-6 gallons a day for many days or weeks due to the fact that functioning kidneys get rid of 5-8 gallons of water a day. However for endurance athletes this may be an issue, because your kidneys can only get rid of 27-33 ounces per hour, and when participating in a marathon athletes tend to take in a lot of liquid to stay hydrated. Therefore it is advised that they watch there water intake, including electrolyte rich drinks.
It's advised to get in around 1,500 milligrams (mg) of sodium per day to replace whatever you lost in urine and sweat. As we mentioned before in most cases, we consume enough in our regular diet and then some. Sodium isn't the bad guy here! It's the amount that we we take in or lose. We NEED it in order for our body to function properly. With proper preparation in foods you can ensure your getting the amount you need for you!