Obesity

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• DNA Damage – Researchers have found that as they increased salt levels in laboratory cells, DNA strands began to break and cell repair mechanism shut down. When salt concentrations returned to normal, the cells began to repair DNA again. The same DNA mess was found in the kidneys of mice. The next step was to see if these results hold true for human kidneys.
• Other Problems – In addition to the above, too much salt can worsen symptoms such as swelling in pregnant women and shortness of breath. It has been found that there is improvement in Asthma symptoms after reducing salt intake.

 Salt Laden Foods

202.   Experts estimate that today, we eat much more than twice the salt we should and we can do that without even touching the salt-shakes. The sodium hides in processed foods, put there by the food companies to preserve products for longer shelf life that would otherwise go bad, or to make bland or bitter food taste better, or may be just to appeal our craving for the stuff. Salt is omnipresent in the modern diet as many canned and pre-packed foods contain high levels of it, e.g. baked beans, pizza and spaghetti can contain 50 to 70% of recommended 2,300 mg. daily allowance of sodium. There are salt bombs like pickles, papads, potato chips / crisps etc. A burger contains 1,000 mg of sodium, a portion of cottage cheese 918 mg., small pizza 900 mg., a bowl of cornflakes 532 mg., and even 330 ml. zero calorie cola has 50 mg of salt. In comparison a chunk of shredded wheat (dalia) has only 6 mg. of sodium and a bowl of cooked oatmeal even less than 5 mg.

203.   One should also beware of the boasts on the food labels. For example, “light in sodium” chips / crisps have half the amount of salt you find in normal variety. “Reduced” or “less sodium” means 25% less than normal. Even “sodium free” foods have up to 5 mg. sodium per serving.

 Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)

204.   Addition of MSG, a flavour enhancer amino acid called Chinese salt, further adds to the content of sodium in processed or freshly prepared food, especially Chinese. Soft drinks, candy and chewing gum are also potential sources of hidden MSG. Those people sensitive to MSG, can become ill after eating food containing MSG.