nutrition is complicated, and those of us who seek to understand it must inherently accept that we don't know everything there is to know about it. With new technologies, new theories, and new studies coming out all the time, our prior understanding of food and how it affects the body is constantly being challenged. Some previously demonized foods and nutrients are finally getting the recognition they always deserved, and some previously praised ones are getting shunned for the harm we now know they cause. That being said, we can't just change our minds about something because of one study. Studies can be flawed, they can be biased, and they can be manipulated, and different people can be affected in varying ways. So, realistically, we shouldn't just throw out all our recommendations because something new and shiny contradicts it, especially not without at least understanding why it does so. Every once in a while, we find that nutritional anomaly that starts on one end of the health spectrum, becomes controversial, and eventually finds itself on the other end. Maybe it's good for some things.

change in the public eye, and today we've got one of those that's long overdue for a second chance. So, with that said, let's get back into the real killers. Good old sodium, one of the most controversial nutrients ever. But before we get into all of that, let's talk a little bit about what sodium actually is. It's an element and a mineral, a micronutrient that must be consumed for optimal bodily function and performance. In this regard, it falls under the same umbrella as other minerals: calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc, among a few others. All of these are inorganic elements that maintain their structure when exposed to heat and air and are originally found in soil and water. Contrast this to their organic compound counterparts, vitamins, which are made by plants and animals. Minerals are broken down into two classifications: trace minerals, which are needed in smaller amounts like manganese, iron, copper, and zinc, and major minerals, which are needed in noticeably larger quantities like calcium, potassium

magnesium. And our topic for today: sodium. Now, when I say sodium, many people often use that interchangeably with the word salt. And for good reason. The overwhelming majority of sodium in any given person's diet comes from salt. But a salt is really just any ionic molecule made from an acid and a base that dissolves in water. The only one that you're realistically going to encounter in food is sodium chloride, your everyday table salt. It's found in nearly every food or drink you'll ever consume, occurring naturally in many foods and often being added for flavor and preservation. Thing is, salt has been around forever. It was used way before recorded history, believed to be used as far back as 3000 BC in China. It was at one point a commodity and at some points in history used in a currency-like fashion. Where do you think the expression worth its salt comes from? It's also been culturally significant in many parts of the world. All this to say, salt, and by extension, sodium, is not a

new thing people have been using it and consuming it for Millennia, and I don't think it's going away anytime soon. However, much like sugar in the Modern Age, a typical person consumes a lot more than they used to, and due to this, it's been on many health organizations' Radars for about the last 100 years. In fact, unlike our other quote-unquote real killers, added sugars, and trans fats, sodium has been on the food label since its Inception. However, unlike something like protein, it was put on there as more of a warning to help people steer clear of an upper limit. The whole nutritional World seemed to be pretty sure of what it thought of sodium, and it's been demonized ever since. But as I said earlier, something like this shouldn't be decided until we understand what it does and why it does what it does. Sodium is a necessary nutrient for Optimal Health. In a 2,000 calorie diet, the recommended daily intake is 1,500 MGR, but it's recommended to limit your intake to

below 2300 Mig, most of the body's sodium is in your blood and an extracellular fluid that surrounds your cells, helping to keep these fluids in balance. Sodium is more specifically an electrolyte, which is a blanket term for a particle that carries a positive or negative electric charge. Sodium carries a positive charge. As it pertains to nutrition, these are mineral minerals found primarily in your blood, urine, and sweat. When said minerals dissolve in water, they become electrolytes, positive or negative ions. These include, but are not limited to, sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus. The body uses them for many things, with nerve function, muscular contraction, acidity balance, and proper cellular hydration being among the most notable. In terms of nerve cell function, the process starts as your brain sends electrical signals through nerve cells, called nervous impulses. This causes changes of electrical charges, which occur due to the movement of sodium across the nerve cell membrane, setting off a chain reaction moving more sodium ions in order to transmit different messages. When one nerve cell communicates with another, it opens a

channel that allows sodium to be transferred. The sodium tells a nerve cell to fire, and this is chained all the way from the brain to a muscle or from a sensor to the brain. When it comes to muscular contraction, sodium has an important job in facilitating calcium ions into muscle fibers, allowing them to change shape and release energy. Sodium's role here goes even further due to a process I guarantee you've heard of if you've ever taken an anatomy class: the sodium-potassium pump, an enzyme, so a type of protein that is tunnel-like in cell membranes, allowing sodium and potassium transfer in order to maintain balance. When this balance is disrupted, it can lead to muscle weakness or even failure. Sodium is also used to maintain cellular fluid balance through a process called osmosis. Sodium ions attract water, so when sodium levels are too high, water moves from the inside to the outside of cells, leading to dehydration. Conversely, when sodium levels are too low, water moves from the outside to the inside of cells, leading to swelling and potentially bursting in extreme cases.

sum all of the science talk up. Sodium is arguably the most essential micronutrients because without it, your brain, and your nerves, and your muscles literally do not work. And any attempt at hydration is basically useless without your sodium intake being within certain parameters. Basically, without sodium, you're dead. So why does the entire food world seem to have such a problem with it, and does it really deserve to go around wearing the title of killer? The main issue with sodium is that it has a long history of being associated with high blood pressure, which can cause damage to blood vessels, making them less elastic and decreasing efficacy of blood flow, which can lead to several chronic diseases like heart disease, stroke, or kidney disease. We've already established that sodium is quite abundant in your blood and that it attracts water. So to put it as simply as possible, more sodium in your blood means more water, which means more pressure. The association between salt and hypertension was believed to be first discovered in 1904 in France.

Throughout the 20th century, the relationship between high blood pressure and excessive sodium was only strengthened, with several large worldwide studies backing this up. This includes the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology study, also known as PURE, which tested urine sodium levels and compared them to blood pressure in people across five different continents. However, the more time went on, the more certain trends started to pop up, like the fact that people with pre-existing high blood pressure, diabetes, and other chronic diseases like kidney disease, as well as older adults, tend to be more vulnerable to the blood pressure-raising effects of sodium. Obviously, high levels of sodium are inevitably going to raise blood pressure levels eventually, but the guidelines for sodium intake are looser for more active people who lose ample amounts of sodium from sweat, and for those with well-functioning cardiovascular systems. High salt diets are also linked with stomach cancer, though the reasons for the association aren't as clear as with hypertension. The thing is, many studies show that in order for a healthy

individual to develop a higher risk of chronic diseases and potential fatal issues, they would need to be consuming a lot of sodium, four, five, six, seven grams a day. And of course, this will vary from person to person for a multitude of things, not least of which body size. The problem is that level of consumption is becoming much more common with the shift in diet we've been seeing in the last few decades. Today, the average American is estimated to consume about 3,400 mg of sodium a day, and a big reason why is processed foods. Salt is used in many processed foods as a preservative. It dehydrates food, preventing microbial growth, but also just high salt can be toxic to microbes because it can inhibit their internal processes pretty quickly. And in a world where people are cooking less and less, this requires them to change their food choices. We see more canned meats, fruits, and vegetables. More people are eating out, grabbing fast food, or relying more on microwavable meals, which require more preservatives to prevent them from going bad on their own.

these are little changes, but they can add up very quickly. So, is sodium actually a killer? Well, it's a necessary nutrient, and just like most essential nutrients, consuming too much or too little will have negative, potentially serious effects. Sodium is not entirely unique here, as there is evidence of negative repercussions from overconsumption of other micronutrients. For example, vitamin A and selenium toxicity. Sodium just seems to have an easier-to-exceed upper limit before things start to go wrong. Recommendations are controversial, as it seems people with normal blood pressure levels are less at risk from overconsumption and possibly even more at risk from underconsumption. It should go without saying that restricting sodium too much can be detrimental as well. With sodium being regularly lost through sweating and excrement, there's a constant demand for it, so you don't want to undershoot your intake either. Aside from the fact that your neural and muscular systems will be operating less efficiently, insufficient sodium intake may lead to low blood pressure, higher LDL cholesterol, insulin

resistance, and the familiar hyponatremia, which is insufficient sodium in the blood relative to water. The early symptoms are similar to dehydration, which can cause trouble when you try to treat it with more water. These symptoms include weakness, fatigue, headache, nausea, cramping, spasms, irritability, inability to focus, and in more severe cases, coma, seizures, lack of reflex control, and loss of consciousness. While leaving it untreated for too long can contribute to other health complications like osteoporosis, brain swelling, kidney failure, and heart disease. These are all pretty rare in people who don't actively seek out a low sodium diet, but some studies have shown unorthodox trends like findings that certain populations who consume less than three grams of sodium a day are more likely to develop heart disease than those who consumed over 4 G. More researchers needed to really understand why this is, and the medical and nutritional world slowly coming around to the importance of adequate sodium intake should hopefully speed this process along. It's also important to mention that there are many

other contributing factors to your blood pressure and cardiovascular health, including exercise, alcohol consumption, and other nutrients like potassium and magnesium, which are shown to lower blood pressure. For the time being, understand that like any other nutrient, you, as an individual, are going to handle sodium uniquely, from the rate at which you absorb it to the rate at which you excrete it and everything in between. Now, the last thing I want to talk about is where you'd find sodium. Unlike most nutrients, sodium can be added very easily to your diet by simply shaking some salt on your food. So, I want to focus on high sodium foods to keep an eye out for. Most raw and natural foods don't contain high amounts of sodium. Meats, fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, milk - none of these are salty foods by nature. However, some seafood is naturally pretty salty due to its environment. Other than that, it's really foods that people had a heavy hand in making or packaging: some cheeses, especially processed ones, processed meats, dried meats, canned fruits and vegetables, pickled foods.

soups, desserts, condiments, sauces, dips, and dressings, bread products, tomato sauce, baked beans, Frozen microwavable meals, fast food, and ramen. Realistically, it shouldn't be that hard to figure out which foods have a lot of salt in them. And finally, we are left with a big question: is sodium really a killer? While many health professionals may disagree, I'm going to say no. And even if you want to consider it as such, it's not even close to the degree of our other real killers in this series. If anything, sodium's history in the nutritional world can be viewed as a victim story. It had the unfortunate side effect of being a crucial component in the world's most used preservative and flavor enhancer. And now, with it being used more than ever, it finds itself demonized for just being very useful chemically. But the way I'm talking about it almost makes it seem like it's making its own decisions. It's not. It's a rock. It is what it is and it does what it does. And it's up to

us who are actually capable of thinking to use it properly. And for this case in particular, knowing really is half the battle, and the other half is actually implementing what you know. Now, if you enjoyed the video, or at the very least learned a little something, I encourage you to subscribe because there's plenty more nutritional videos on the way. Go ahead and let me know down in the comments what other nutrients you think deserve an in-depth breakdown video like this. And remember that all I ask is that you do your own research and advocate for your body. You only get the one.

The REAL Killers - Sodium

The REAL Killers - Sodium

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