Do you still believe the myth that salt is bad for your blood pressure? If you examine the evidence, you’ll quickly see that your risk for hypertension and heart disease is far more dependent on your ratio of this other mineral, and not sodium. And if you eat the standard American foods, your ratio is likely to be one-tenth of what’s ideal.
STORY AT-A-GLANCE Evidence shows having the correct potassium to sodium balance influences your risk for hypertension and heart disease to a far greater extent than high sodium alone, and the Western diet tends to be lacking in potassium
It’s generally recommended that you consume five times more potassium than sodium, but most Americans eat twice as much sodium as potassium
When lowering salt in processed foods, many manufacturers added monosodium glutamate (MSG) instead — a flavor enhancer associated with obesity, headaches, thyroid, liver, kidney and intestinal damage, and much more The theory that salt is bad for you and contributes to high blood pressure and heart disease is an idea that has become more or less cemented as dogma. Alas, the war on salt has had a number of drawbacks and unintended consequences. For starters, evidence shows having the correct potassium to sodium balance influences your risk for hypertension and heart disease to a far greater extent than high sodium alone, and the Western diet tends to be lacking in potassium….