Dietary minerals are chemical elements required by living organisms. They can be either bulk minerals (required in relatively large amounts, macro minerals, grams or milligrams per day) or trace minerals (required only in very small amounts, micro or pico grams) Appropriate intake levels of each dietary mineral must be sustained to maintain physical health. Excessive intake of a dietary mineral may either lead to illness directly or indirectly because of the competitive nature between mineral levels in the body. So be careful how many rocks you eat and keep the kids away from the lead paint on the wall. Feed them Gummi bears instead.  Sometimes minerals are added to the diet separately from food, as vitamin and mineral supplements and in dirt eating, called pica or geophagy.

 Essential  Pronunciation: ĕs`sĕn´sjal  or i-sen-chl a :basic and fundamental  a: being a substance that is required for normal functioning but cannot be synthesized by the body and therefore must be included in the diet  s :absolutely required and not to be used up or sacrificed  s :of the greatest importance  s :absolutely necessary; vitally necessary   n :anything indispensable ie don't leave home without it....More important than Gummi Bears...

Interestingly enough is that the definition of salt includes both a noun and a verb.  In alchemy, the symbol for salt is a square.  In philosophy, the proverbial question remains, what is salt?  In religion, salt is the symbol for the medium of purity and sacrificial love.  More wars have been fought over salt than over gold.  Many idioms include salt as the focus of attention in terms of worth, such as “He isn’t worth his salt”, “you are the salt of the earth”, “ take it with a grain of salt”. In culinary worlds, it is well known that salt lifts flavor.  Salt gives itself away to the point that it is not salt anymore in food. The Latin root of salt yields the word salary, sauce and salivate.  Salt was used in the Roman world as a currency. It was used to pay soldiers for good and faithful service, and salt was used to purchase slaves.  Thus, the term,” He isn’t worth his salt” Also, Charles Dickens wrote a hard to believe ghost story that coined the phrase” take it with a grain of salt” This idiom also has its roots in ancient medicine to help distribute the medicines evenly in the body.  Additionally, ancient dentists used a grain of salt on an aching tooth for its analgesic properties. Salt taxes were the instigating events that precipitated two famous recent revolutions:  The French Revolution, and the peaceful revolution lead by Gandhi.

Salt has more than 14,000 known uses. Everyone uses salt, directly and indirectly.  Americans each consume more than 16 tons of salt during their lifetimes, 402 pounds a year for each living American.  Last year, here's how usage breaks out among major uses

Dr. Sears and I feel that our genetic makeup has not not changed much in the past 2.5million years.  As a species we are genetically designed for certain foods.  The current problems with obesity most likely relate to the fact that humans are not genetically designed for large amounts of grain intake and grains are by far the largest food product produced in the world today.  The same can be said for salt.  Humans are not genetically designed for large amounts of salt intake.  The main problem with too much salt intake is hypertension, or high blood pressure, which leads to hardening of the arteries or atherosclerosis and stroke which are the main causes of death in the United States.  The Graph below shows the relationship between hypertension and salt intake.  It is clear.

A: systolic blood pressure change with age in various populations according to their habitual daily salt
intake.

The article of the month is a detailed summary of the effects of salt on hypertension. The last part of the article deals with evolutionary aspects of salt intake.

Links between dietary salt intake, renal salt handling, blood pressure, and cardiovascular diseases.  Meneton P, Jeunemaitre X, de Wardener HE, MacGregor GA.  Physiol Rev. 2005 Apr;85(2):679-715.

The Institute of Medicine in their Dietary Reference Intake Book and tables make the following recommendations which we at Inside Outside feel are appropriate.

"Regarding salt, healthy 19- to 50-year-old adults should consume 1.5 grams of sodium and 2.3 grams of chloride each day -- or 3.8 grams of salt -- to replace the amount lost daily on average through perspiration and to achieve a diet that provides sufficient amounts of other essential nutrients. Elevated blood pressure, which may lead to stroke, coronary heart disease, and kidney disease, is associated with sodium intake. On average, blood pressure rises progressively as salt intake increases. A tolerable upper intake level (UL) -- a maximum amount that people should not exceed -- is set at 5.8 grams of salt (2.3 grams of sodium) per day. Older individuals, African Americans, and people with chronic diseases including hypertension, diabetes, and kidney disease are especially sensitive to the blood pressure-raising effects of salt and should consume less than the UL. More than 95 percent of American men and 90 percent of Canadian men ages 31 to 50, and 75 percent of American women and 50 percent of Canadian women in this age range regularly consume salt in excess of the UL."

CASH (Consensus Action on Salt and Health) is a group of specialists concerned with salt and its effects on health. It is successfully working to reach a consensus with the food industry and Government over the harmful effects of a high salt diet, and bring about a reduction in the amount of salt in processed foods as well as salt added to cooking, and the table.

MotherNature.com - Low-Salt Diet

Is Your Salt Real? ^®

Salt Mining In the United States

Salt in Texas History

The Salt Institute is the world's foremost source of authoritative information about salt (sodium chloride) and its more than 14,000 known uses.

More about minerals next few months. We will initially focus on some of the other Macro Minerals such as Calcium, Magnesium and then on microminerals.

METALS IN NUTRITION