Salt consumption brings many chronic diseases, including kidney, heart and pancreatic diseases. Pointing out that the habit of eating salt leads to irreversible health problems, Uzm. Dr. Güzin Oğuz Yıldırım said, "A daily intake of less than 5 grams of salt saves 2.5 million lives a year by increasing the chance of a long healthy life." Dr. Yıldırım advised, "Remove the salt shaker from the table."
[haberyatay=balanced-and-right-nutrition-can-be-effective-in-alzheimer's]
Every year, the week of March 12-18 is commemorated as "World Salt Caution Week". Üsküdar University NPISTANBUL Hospital Internal Medicine Specialist Dr. Güzin Oğuz Yıldırım made important evaluations about the effect of salt on health.
It invites chronic diseases
Stating that the habit of eating salt brings along other chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes, especially heart, kidney and pancreatic diseases, Dr. Yıldırım underlined that this habit leads to irreversible diseases in the following years.
1 teaspoon of salt a day is enough
Stating that daily salt consumption should be less than 5 grams (approximately 1 teaspoon), Uzm. Dr. Güzin Oğuz Yıldırım stated that reducing salt consumption starts with reducing processed ready-to-eat foods and choosing the foods with the least sodium from the foods in the markets, and continued her words as follows:
"A daily salt intake of less than 5 grams significantly reduces the risk of heart health, increases the chance of a long healthy life and saves 2.5 million lives annually. Salt consumption should be reduced. It should not exceed 5 grams daily (1 heaped teaspoon or l scant teaspoon). Attention should be paid to the consumption of all sodium compounds such as mono sodium glutamate, sodium nitrate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium citrate, sodium ascorbate, etc., which are used in the food industry and are usually included in the food label of packaged foods."
Remove the salt shaker from your table!
Noting that the amount of salt added during food preparation, cooking and consumption should be reduced, Güzin Oğuz Yıldırım said, "In fact, salt should not be added during preparation and cooking if possible due to the presence of sodium in the composition of foods. Salt should not be added to the food at the table and the salt shaker should be removed from the table."
These foods have too much salt!
Noting that the consumption of ready-to-eat foods should be limited due to the amount of salt they contain, Dr. Güzin Oğuz Yıldırım said the following:
"Ready-made sauces (soy sauce, ketchup sauce, barbecue sauce, tartar sauce, salsa sauce, mustard, pasta sauce, etc.), snack products (chips, grain-based bars, fruit-based bars, popcorn, etc.), salted nuts (hazelnuts, peanuts, walnuts, almonds, chickpeas, roasted nuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, all kinds of kernels, etc.), pickles and salami.), pickles and brines (black and green olives, vegetable pickles), canned fish, salted, smoked and/or pickled meat and fish products, and flavored/unflavored, natural/non-natural mineral drinks should be consumed less because they contain high amounts of salt."
Soak the brine in water before consuming
Yıldırım reminded that foods such as pickles, tomato paste, tarhana, kurut and pickled leaves, which are traditionally prepared at home, have high salt content and said, "For this reason, they should be consumed less and the use of high amounts of salt should be avoided while preparing them. Processes such as washing and soaking in water can be applied to reduce the salt content of pickled products."
You will get used to a salt-free diet after a while
Dr. Güzin Oğuz Yıldırım, Internal Medicine Specialist at Üsküdar University NPISTANBUL Hospital, said, "The label information of the processed products purchased must be read and salt-free or reduced salt products should be preferred. The content of packaged foods should be read from the label information and those with lower amounts of salt and salt substitutes in similar foods should be preferred."
"In out-of-home nutrition, the amount of salt in meals and foods should be learned and they should be asked to be prepared with less salt or without salt if possible. Natural flavor enhancers (onion, garlic, spices, lemon, vinegar, pepper, etc.) should be used instead of salt. It should not be forgotten that when one is insistent on reducing salt consumption for a while, one can get used to a diet with reduced salt."
