Salt is that essential ingredient of our food which not only makes the food tasty, but it is also very important for the body. Salt contains sodium chloride, due to which the body has a special need for it. By the way, there are many types of salt, in which many ingredients make it even more special. According to doctors, on an average a person needs 5 grams of salt. But in India, per person consumes 11 grams of salt. This is the reason why blood pressure disease has become common in India due to excessive consumption of salt in the body. There are many other side effects of excessive consumption of salt.
Excess salt consumption also has a bad effect on kidney and heart. That's why the World Health Organization (WHO) has set a target of reducing 30% salt in the diet by 2025. With this, increasing heart disease including blood pressure can be controlled. For this purpose, the emphasis is on increasing the awareness about the consumption of salt. But the body needs salt and consumption of 5 grams has been said to be essential for every human being. It is obvious that lack of salt can have bad effects on the body. That's why doctors recommend eating any type of salt in the right quantity.
Highest consumption of three types of salt
White, black and rock salt are mostly used by people in their food items. Most of the salt used in homes is white or sea salt, which is also known as table salt. White or sea salt is made from sea water, which is light brown in colour. It is also processed before reaching the homes. Hence it becomes white and very fine. Due to pollution in the sea, many polluted substances can get mixed in it and due to processing, essential components disappear from this salt. Sea salt mixed with iodine is being sold in the last two decades.
Actually, due to the lack of iodine content in many areas, iodized salt is necessary in foods. But in many places it is not needed due to the abundance of iodine. By the way, in iodine deficient areas, not eating iodized salt causes a disease called goitre. The amount of NaCl in white or sea salt is 97-99%.
The other type of salt is Rock Salt, which is also known as Himalayan Pink Salt. It is light pink in color and the amount of NaCl in it is 90 to 98 percent. The third type is Black Salt which is made from rock salt only. It is prepared in a furnace by mixing myrobalan seeds, amla etc. in water. It looks black when heated and pink when ground.
Why is rock salt said to be better?
Rock salt contains 84 types of elements which are essential for the body. Apart from sodium, elements like magnesium, potassium are present in it. It reaches the homes in its original form, so its quality remains intact. By the way, rock salt is better for health, but eating more continuously can become the cause of the problem. Every type of salt contains more than 90 percent sodium chloride, but the presence of other minerals in rock salt makes it especially beneficial.
Many benefits of rock salt have also been told in Ayurveda.
It has less sodium and more potassium. That's why it is beneficial for high blood pressure patients, as well as it has been said to be used for better immunity and metabolism. However, there is a lack of iodine in rock salt. Because of this, experts also recommend eating a small amount of sea salt along with rock salt.
Ayurvedacharya Dr. Bharatbhushan says that people who have been using normal salt for the last several years but now wish to eat rock salt, they should do so only after consulting doctors. Actually Dr. Bharatbhushan is specially warning the thyroid or BP patients about this.
Water retention can be a problem
Dr. Ankit Kumar, Senior Resident at GTB Hospital, says that normal salt can prove to be harmful for patients if taken in excess, while such cases are less common with rock salt, but if a person has been consuming normal salt for the past several years. So he should not suddenly consume rock salt. Taking normal salt in excess can be harmful and suddenly including rock salt in the diet can cause water retention in the body.
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