How to remove excess salt from the body

Why remove salt from the body

Chemically, salt is sodium chloride (NaCl). And it is sodium that makes this substance dangerous to health.

When we eat too much salt, sodium builds up in the body and can lead to a sustained rise in blood pressure. This increases the risk of heart disease and stroke.

The point of salt excretion is to rid the body of excess sodium.

And thereby reduce health risks.

How much salt can you eat

Scientists aren't sure. WHO recommends Guideline: Sodium Intake for Adults and Children. / World Health Organization. there is no more than 5 g of salt daily, the British National Health Service increases the allowable amount to 6 g. This is about a teaspoon. Sodium in such an amount of salt - from 2 to 2.5 g.

You are unlikely to greatly exceed this dose. Statistics from Andrew Mente, Martin O'Donnell, Sumathy Rangarajan, at al. Associations of urinary sodium excretion with cardiovascular events in individuals with and without hypertension: a pooled analysis of data from four studies / The Lancet, only 22% of the population from 49 developed countries consume more than 6 g of pure sodium (or 15 g of NaCl) daily - then the amount starting from which the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and associated mortality increases sharply. Most people are limited to 6-8 grams of salt.

Nevertheless, even a slight excess of the norm can be harmful.

How to know if there is too much salt

There are no laboratory tests available that can measure salt content. You can get tested for sodium, but since this element plays an important role in many processes, such a test will rather tell you about your general condition and the performance of various organs than about an excess of salt.

It is possible to assume that you eat a lot of salty foods mainly by indirect indications. The American resource LiveStrong, dedicated to a healthy lifestyle, surveyed 4 Signs You’re Eating Too Much Salt / LiveStrong nutritionists and medical doctors and identified four symptoms that indicate an excess of salt in the body. Please note: all of them are indicative only if you are healthy and do not have chronic diseases.

You are often thirsty.
You have mild swelling regularly. For example, the toes or feet around the ankles become puffy and the face becomes puffy.
Vegetables, breads, cereals and other common foods seem tasteless to you. I want to salt them.
Your blood pressure began to rise.

This is not a complete list. For more details on how to recognize an excess of salt, Lifehacker wrote here.

How to remove excess salt from the body

The most obvious option seems to be this: drink plenty of water. The liquid will dilute the sodium and flush it out through the kidneys. But in fact, this method is questionable.

Our body is designed in such a way that the amount of water and the level of sodium are interrelated Water and Sodium Balance / Merck Manual. In body fluids, approximately the same amount of sodium is always dissolved (and other electrolytes, but they are not very important in this case). This measure is called osmolarity Fluid and Electrolyte Balance / Molecular & Cell Biology.

For a person to remain healthy, osmolarity must be in a certain, rather narrow range. Therefore, when you drink and the amount of moisture increases, the body begins to retain sodium by all means in order to maintain its concentration. In addition, all this together leads to an increase in blood volume, an increase in blood pressure and additional stress on the heart and blood vessels.

In general, consuming water on purpose to get rid of excess salt is not the best solution. Does Drinking Water Flush Out Sodium in the Body? / LiveStrong. There are much more effective and scientifically proven ways.

1. Sweat well

The key here is “as it should”.

Sodium, like other electrolytes, that is, potassium and chlorine, can leave the body along with the evaporating moisture. But as long as you are not sweating too actively, there is little sodium in the sweat: even before it reaches the surface of the skin, the sweat glands absorb it back. This mechanism is called reabsorption.

However, the absorbency of the sweat glands is not infinite. At a certain stage, when the rate of sweating increases, the body can no longer retain all the sodium.

Sweat contains sodium in the same form of chloride. Therefore, there is a clear connection:

The saltier the sweat, the higher the sodium loss.

Scientists are also studying the mechanisms of electrolyte release during sweating. So, it is already known that the absorbency of the sweat glands changes depending on the type of heating (there is a difference whether you sweat during training or in the sauna), the level of physical fitness of a person, the habit of heat, and the area of the body. All of these nuances can affect sodium loss. How exactly is not yet clear.

But it is already clear: the more you sweat, the more sodium is excreted from the body.

2. Stay hydrated but skip sports drinks

If you are actively sweating, you need to restore the amount of moisture in the body. At least in order to have something to sweat and with what to remove salt. In addition, if you lose too much fluid and do not regain it, there is a risk of dehydration and associated hypernatremia Hypernatremia (High Level of Sodium in the Blood) / Merck Manual. This is the name of a dangerous condition in which the level of sodium in the blood rises sharply: the body simply does not have enough moisture to keep osmolarity in the normal range.

Therefore, keep track of how much you drink during the day. Average rate Water: How much should you drink every day? / Mayo Clinic is this:

men should consume at least 3 liters of water per day;
women - not less than 2, 2 liters.

The necessary moisture can be obtained from various sources: compotes, fruit drinks, tea. And sports drinks. They are often recommended for people who exercise vigorously because they contain carbohydrates and electrolytes. But if right now your goal is to get rid of excess salt, it is better to refuse such drinks. Many of these are supplemented with large doses of sodium in addition to other electrolytes.

3. Eat foods rich in potassium

Experts from the American Heart Association report that potassium helps eliminate sodium from the body. They are echoed by scientists at the University of Michigan, who briefly formulate the relationship between the two electrolytes:

The more potassium, the less sodium, and vice versa.

The fact is that in the cells of the human body there are so-called sodium-potassium pumps. They pump potassium into the cells and at the same time remove excess sodium from them so that its concentration outside is always higher. This is necessary so that the kidneys can filter the blood normally.

If there is more potassium, then the pump works more actively, which means that the concentration of sodium in the blood rises faster. As soon as it reaches a certain level, the mechanism of pressor natriuresis is triggered. This complex term can literally be translated as follows: excretion of sodium in the urine (urine) using high pressure.

In general terms, the natriuresis process looks like this. Excess sodium stimulates the heart, and it begins to push blood with greater force. Blood pressure rises. This affects the kidneys: they are more active in filtering the blood and excreting excess sodium in the urine. Once the balance is restored, the pressure returns to normal.

Therefore, to help the body shed excess sodium more easily, the American Heart Association recommends eating potassium-rich foods:

bananas;
avocado;
potato;
greens;
spinach;
mushrooms;
peas;
tomatoes and tomato juice;
oranges and their juice;
plums, apricots and their juice;
raisins and dates;
milk with a fat content of up to 1%;
low fat yogurt;
tuna and halibut.

4. Try a diuretic

These can be over-the-counter pills or diuretic herbal teas. According to the Mayo Clinic, an American medical organization, some diuretics help the kidneys eliminate excess sodium from the body faster. This is especially true for the so-called loop diuretics.

Just never drink diuretics, even if it's just herbal tea, all the time. This could be cited by Mohanad Soliman, William Fuller, Nida Usmani, and Olalekan Akanbi. Acute Severe Hyponatremia as a Serious Health Implication of Herbal Detox Regimens / Cureus to Critically Reduce Sodium and Potassium. And this is dangerous to health.

This article has been updated. At the request of our readers, we have added details on the mechanisms by which the human body regulates sodium.