Diseases come from the mouth! Eat less of this food every meal and live more than "10 years"

Not long ago, the salt limit standard was raised again!

In the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022)", it is recommended that Chinese residents over the age of 11 consume no more than 5 grams of salt per day. The limit in the old version of the guidelines was 6 grams.

This tiny 1 gram of salt may seem insignificant, but it is a further step in human beings' pursuit of good health.

Some people may be curious, why do we always talk about limiting salt intake? If the food is too bland, it really doesn’t taste good. Besides, if you eat too much salt, you can just drink more water.

This is because eating too much salt is really harmful to the body!

It is understood that 3.8 grams of salt per person per day can maintain the most basic needs of the human body.

The extra salt may cause trouble in the body, leading to a series of negative reactions, such as the following:

1

Increased blood pressure

my country is a country with a high blood pressure, which is largely related to the excessive per capita salt intake. Salt can increase the water content in the blood, leading to an increase in the total blood volume, and can also activate hormones such as angiotensin, which can increase blood pressure.

Moreover, both animal experiments and epidemiological surveys of the population have found that increased salt intake in the diet will increase blood pressure.

High blood pressure increases the risk of stroke, heart disease, kidney disease, and eye disease...

Therefore, control your diet and eat less salt. When the salt intake is controlled below 5g per day, the benefits to blood pressure will be obvious.

2

Body edema

Salt contains sodium. The more sodium you consume, the more water you may retain in your body.

Some people who already have poor blood circulation may experience obvious edema. If they consume too much, they may experience discomfort such as abdominal distension, swollen face, and headache.

3

Deterioration of skin quality

In addition to facial swelling, due to the effect of osmotic pressure, the water content of body tissues will decrease, and the water excreted from the body will increase, which is not conducive to skin moisture retention. Over time, the skin becomes dry and less hydrated due to cell dehydration.

4

Induce gastric cancer

Excessive salt intake can promote gastric acid secretion, damage the gastric mucosa, and promote the occurrence of various gastric diseases. High salt is an important factor leading to gastric cancer.

Epidemiological surveys have shown that there is a positive correlation between salt intake and gastric cancer risk.

In other words, a light diet with less salt is a factor that helps prevent stomach cancer.

5

Damage to the kidneys

The kidneys are metabolic organs, and excess sodium must pass through the kidneys, which will increase the metabolic burden.

This is also why kidney patients need to strictly control salt intake, for fear of making their already unhealthy kidneys worse.

6

Osteoporosis

When you consume too much sodium, your body will increase the amount of calcium excreted in your urine while trying to excrete the sodium.

This is very unfriendly to middle-aged and elderly people who already have insufficient calcium intake and osteoporosis, so elderly friends who like to eat porridge with pickles should pay attention and eat less pickles.

In short, eating too much salt is really not good for the body. So is it okay to eat less salt in daily meals?

This is indeed possible, but in addition to the three meals a day, you should also pay attention to the invisible salt in your life. The invisible salt hidden in some foods may cause you to exceed the daily intake limit with just a few bites.

**1.** Desserts

**Invisible representatives: **Bread, cake, cheese, ice cream, biscuits

**Take soda crackers as an example: **Sodium content 580mg/100g

**Reason:** These foods need salt to ferment when they are made. The reason why they don't taste salty is because a lot of sugar is added.

2. Snacks

**Invisible representatives: **Plums, candied fruits, seaweed, potato chips

**Take plum as an example: **Sodium content 2200mg/100g

**Reason:** In order to facilitate storage, a lot of salt is added when these foods are made.

3. Drinks

**Invisible representatives: **carbonated drinks, vegetable juices, sports drinks

**Take Coke as an example: **Sodium content 12mg/100ml

**Reason:** Most of these salts exist in the form of "sodium ions".

4. Dried fruits

**Invisible representatives: ** Melon seeds, pistachios, almonds

**Take melon seeds as an example: **Sodium content 642mg/100g

**Reason:** To improve the taste, add salt for seasoning.

Therefore, before eating these delicacies, it is best to check the nutritional information on the food packaging, or the NRV% value. If it exceeds the standard, throw it back on the shelf.

Knowledge Points

① 1g of table salt = 400mg of sodium; 1g of sodium = 2.5g of table salt.

(The above data comes from the packaging labels of some products)

2. NRV% refers to the nutrients contained in every 100g/ml or each serving of food, which is a percentage of the daily requirement of the human body (the daily requirement of the human body is approximately between 2000-2500mg).

Take plums as an example: From the NRV%, we can see that eating 100g of plums exceeds the appropriate sodium intake for one day.

Author: Mingyue

Source: Doctor Youlai