Salt Tidbits & Trivia

Before 1991, very little cholera was reported in Peru. Then, under unusual circumstances, it infected Peru’s coastal waters and the fish which are so important to the local diet. The organism responsible for cholera, Vibrio cholerae occurs naturally in the plankton of fresh, brackish, and salt water, attached primarily to copepods in the zooplankton. The coastal waters were unusually warm and untreated sewage supported unusually large zooplankton blooms.

In order to quell the bad publicity regarding the quality of his country’s coastal waters, then President Fujimori wished to demonstrate to his citizens that the press reports were exaggerated. He boldly posed for public television cameras eating some locally-prepared ceviche. Within 12 hours, he came down with cholera confirming that pathogens are a biological, rather than a political phenomenon. That cholera outbreak eventually killed 3,500 people.

Fortunately, doctors quickly turned to effective and inexpensive oral rehydration therapy with clean water and salt. If not, the death toll would have been much greater.

Cholera is characterized by prolonged episodes of diarrhea and it is critical to ensure that lost fluids and salts are fully replaced. Common table salt (sodium chloride) is the key electrolyte that has to be replenished along with water.

Now some officials worry that climate change could bring the scourge back to Peru and are making doubly certain to make the population aware of the need to keep themselves fully hydrated and electrolyte-balanced, proving once again that salt is an essential element of life and good health.

Posted by Mort Satin at 01:03 PM | Permalink

Its setting is halfway around the world and the main characters are stay-at-home families, but otherwise the quest for social reform theme in the 21-minute award-winning Indian film (2007 Madurai Film Festival) The Lost Water sounds like a modern-day Grapes of Wrath.

The setting is in Gujarat, India which produces 73% of India's salt. The producers, social reformers all, aim at exposing the plight of salt workers in Gujarat's Little Rann of Kutch (LRK) area. The promo explains:

The government of Gujarat has consistently ignored the LRK area. The salt workers of LRK, known as Agariyas, are predominantly from the Koli and Chuvaliya Koli tribes. As bonded laborers, they are not only victims of wage discrimination, they are endure serious physical and mental health hazards due to the dangerous nature of their work. Kharaghoda village itself is home to 437 widows. Working in extreme temperatures without any protective gear, many Agariyas suffer major health complications, including blindness and skin damage due to unprotected exposure to salt. Living in abject poverty, Agariyas now face water scarcity as well as malnutrition since green vegetables are not available in this area.

The LRK area has recently been designated as a wildlife sanctuary for the threatened Indian Wild Donkey, making salt workers and salt production in LRK now illegal. Agariyas have been forced by government authorities to look outside the LRK for work, now struggling for both their ancestors' land and their livelihood.

Posted by Dick Hanneman at 07:53 PM | Permalink

Blogging is often casual and light-hearted. But it can still be informative. After a serious interview on shortages of deicing salt, Albany (NY) Times-Union reporter Stephanie Earls was intrigued with the tidbits she picked up about salt and shared them with the timesunion.com "Life" community -- including our tip that homeowners could take advantage of the same anti-icing technique now considered "cutting edge" in the roadway winter maintenance profession.

Posted by Dick Hanneman at 03:10 PM | Permalink

A Congressman can't be too careful in dealing with the media. Latest example: Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) who represents Morton Salt's Manistee evap plant, responded to a question on page 17 of today's print issue of The Hill newspaper, in "The Culinary Inquisition" by reporter Kris Kitto. The question seemed innocuous: "Salty or sweet." Apparently caught without a District-sensitive staffer at his elbow, Hoekstra opted for "sweet." It's an election year, Congressman. What will the Manistee precincts think?

Posted by Dick Hanneman at 06:01 PM | Permalink

In a strikingly clear and comprehensive manner, the paper entitled “Central Regulation of sodium appetite,” by Joel Geerling and Arthur Loewy of the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, MO, elaborates the mechanisms responsible for our appetite for salt. The physiological apparatus we have evolved over the eons to maintain a fully operational cardiovascular system is largely dependant upon maintaining both a balance and sufficient quantities of the two nutrients most essential to life, water and salt. This fundamental system is can be found in fish, reptiles and all mammals. Life depend on it.

In order for us to survive, our circulatory system must have an adequate volume of blood that is under sufficient pressure to supply all our tissues with the nutrients they need and to remove all the toxic byproducts of metabolism. It is a finely tuned balance of water and salt that allows this to happen. Any amount of water or salt that is consumed in excess of our needs is quickly eliminated through our kidneys. However, an equally important issue is ensuring that we have ingested enough water and salt to make up for any losses we experience. This is where the incredible mechanism controlling the thirst for water and the appetite for salt comes in.

This latest publication shows that this multi-factorial system is so robust and includes so many failsafe mechanisms that it continues to fully function even after large sections of its system are shut down. Employing a complex cascade of physiological functions from powerful hormones, such as aldosterone, to pressure sensitive receptors in the brain, this water thirst and salt appetite mechanism moderates our behavior so that we are driven to quickly replenish the volume and ionic balance of our blood, so that it is pressurized sufficiently for our heart to circulate it through our bodies. When fluids and electrolytes are lost, such as with sweating, physical exertion, diarrhea or other circumstances, we immediately get a water thirst signal. So we drink water to make up the loss. After a delay, our salt appetite kicks in to ensure that the ion levels are replaced. If we don’t respond on time to the salt appetite, we die – a situation which was described in an earlier article where a young woman died in a water-holding contest.

It has been repeatedly suggested that policies must be developed to reduce the amount of salt in processed foods. In fact, some countries already have or are in the process of considering policies to effect this. Will these policies be effective? What indication is there that people who are provided with a lower-salt food supply will actually reduce their intake of salt? Based upon this latest publication on salt appetite, individuals faced with foods that are mandated to be low in salt may make up for this in other ways. They may eat considerably more food in order to get more salt or they may simply pick up the salt shaker and add more voluntarily.

The recent publication by Shapiro, Boaz, Matas, Fux, and Shargorodsky as described in a recent article legitimately brings up the question of minimum levels of salt intake. Based upon their data, we can justifiably ask whether the current recommended daily values are prudent. Should the 2,300mg daily upper limit for sodium be reconsidered? Should the Institute of Medicine recommended daily adequate intake of 1,500mg sodium be reconsidered?

Our thirst for water is a basic mechanism we have evolved in our fight for survival. So is our appetite for salt. It is time we realize that the two mechanisms are interdependent and basic to our survival. Any policies promulgated to regulate our consumption of salt must bear this in mind and be based on the most rigorous science. If not, harm will be done.

Posted by Mort Satin at 04:05 PM | Permalink

This week’s New Scientist features an excellent article by renowned science writer, Gary Taubes entitled, “The great diet delusion.” In it, he urges nutrition researchers and health authorities to wake up to the fact that people do not get fat simply because they overeat. For more than a century, medical dogma has stated that the only way to lose weight was to expend more energy than is consumed. While that may work in some cases, he goes beyond that into the physiological mechanisms of fat deposition and over-consumption. Citing examples from adolescent growth spurts, Taubes credibly describes the impact of hormones on growth and fat deposition. Carbohydrates, such as starches and sugars, stimulate the secretion of the hormone insulin which, in turn, accelerates deposition of fat.

Taubes, describes the conventional medical practitioners as being in denial of this phenomenon because acceptance of it would imply that Robert Atkins was correct in his diet recommendations all along. So they largely ignore it while witnessing the greatest epidemic of obesity and type II diabetes in history.

The Taubes article fits closely with the recent article entitled, “A Call for Higher Standards of Evidence for Dietary Guidelines,” in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine by Marantz, Bird and Alderman and recently reviewed in SaltSensibility.

Posted by Mort Satin at 09:59 AM | Permalink