By Dr. Frank Sabatino

Salt is the most ubiquitous, overused, and abused condiment in the human diet. It is the major additive, along with sugar and oil, used by the processed-food industry to produce hyper-palatable, ultra-processed junk food that can promote compulsive overeating, food addiction, high blood pressure, and weight gain.

Every cell in the human body is like a miniature battery, constantly generating electric current. We are electromagnetic in nature. That’s why you can put electrodes on the surface of the chest and measure the electrical discharge of the heart using an electrocardiogram (ECG) or put electrodes on the surface of the skull and measure the electrical discharge of the brain using an electroencephalogram (EEG). 

The electrical activity produced by the cells of the body is primarily a function of the movement of just two minerals, sodium and potassium. However, the body holds on to sodium like a miser. There is an interplay of hormones and enzymes (the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system) orchestrated by the kidneys, liver, lungs, brain, and adrenal glands that promotes the balance of sodium and water to ensure adequate blood pressure in the circulatory system. In this process, sodium is rigorously held onto while potassium is more preferentially eliminated by the kidneys. This clearly shows that sodium is a critical and essential nutrient but also suggests that a more ideal human diet should be higher in potassium then sodium.

One of the reasons that a plant-exclusive diet is ideal for human consumption is that, as a rule, fruits and vegetables are high in potassium and low in sodium. Even higher-sodium-containing plants such as Swiss chard, celery, tomato, and zucchini are still loaded with potassium. In contrast, in a conventional, standard American diet full of meat, dairy, and processed food, this ratio is remarkably reversed with low potassium and exorbitantly high sodium. It is very important to realize that even if you don’t add salt to your food, if you are eating meat and dairy products, your diet is still too high in sodium, because sodium is naturally retained within the bodies and fluids of animals. Our modest need for sodium is best obtained from whole, natural, plant foods, and there is never a need to add any salt to your food. 

The RDA for sodium in the United States is 1,500-2,300 mg per day (depending on certain conditions of disease), or about a 0.6-1 teaspoon of table salt per day. However, the average intake of sodium for adults in the U.S. can be as high as 3,500 mg per day. (1) But because we are a salt-addicted culture, I feel that the recommended daily intake has been set too high and conservatively 1000-1500 mg per day may be more advantageous. In my opinion, if you are eating sodium-containing canned or packaged food, limit the total amount of sodium coming from these products to no more than 500-800 mg per day. The sodium content of a diverse whole plant-exclusive diet will be more than adequate to meet your needs without contributing risky excess.

There are a variety health risks associated with the excessive consumption of sodium. Excess sodium can trigger the retention of many times its weight in water, so routine excesses of sodium often cause tremendous fluid retention and water-weight gain. Every pint of water you retain adds one pound of body weight. Therefore, low-sodium nutrition is essential for any long-term weight-loss program. This is just one more reason why diets high in animal foods that naturally contain high sodium are a debilitating obstruction to successful weight loss. In addition, the increase of fluid volume caused by excess salt intake increases pressure in your blood vessels and circulatory system, and high blood pressure, is significantly correlated with heart disease, kidney disease, and stroke. (2)

Excess sodium can significantly promote calcium deficiency. When you consume too much salt, the kidney secretes excess sodium in the urine and calcium is eliminated along with it. Therefore, the chronic consumption of salt/sodium can foster a diuretic loss of calcium in urine, that triggers a mobilization and loss of calcium from bone to stabilize blood calcium levels, and a potential increase in osteoporosis. (3)(4) The salt/sodium contribution to the epidemic of bone loss is one of the more overlooked parts of the osteoporosis story and should be more carefully monitored for the effective management of this problem. 

Routine, excessive salt consumption can also damage the gel-like mesh (glycocalyx) that protects the endothelial cells lining the inner walls (endothelium) of blood vessels. (5)(6) The glycocalyx/endothelium converts the amino acid, L-arginine, into nitric oxide that dilates blood vessels to increase blood flow throughout the body. Chronic, high salt intake causes the glycocalyx to shrink and degrade allowing sodium to enter the cells lining your blood vessels causing them to stiffen, and limit the production of nitric oxide and dilation of blood vessels, dangerously restricting blood flow to the heart and other vital organs. (7) Excessive salt also causes the glycocalyx to shred into the bloodstream attracting cells of the immune system that trigger inflammation, promote blood vessel damage and increase the risk of heart, brain, and kidney disease. (6)

Salt/sodium excess in your diet can also exert adverse effects on your immune system, triggering systemic inflammation, oxidative free radical stress, and immune system dysregulation. (8) High sodium intake stimulates the production of pathological cells and chemicals that are significantly involved in promoting autoimmune disease. It triggers the release of immune system markers and cytokines, including Tumor necrosis factor, Interleukin-6, and hs C-reactive protein that are associated with debilitating, chronic, low grade systemic inflammation. (9)

The routine use of excessive sodium can diminish your sense of taste. Taste buds in the tongue are attached to nerves that go back to the taste centers in our brain. When food enters the mouth, a certain threshold of stimulation has to be exceeded for the nerves in the mouth to conduct the sensory information that the brain interprets as taste. The more salt, condiments, and additives we consume, the more the taste buds become desensitized requiring that much more stimulation before you can taste anything. Think about people you may know that before they even taste their food, they’ve got that saltshaker going.

Ultra-processed foods are basically non-food products made from refined grains, fats and chemical additives, artificial colorants etc. that are fundamentally tasteless. These products by themselves have all the taste of cardboard. So how many self-respecting primates like you and me are going to pluck down our hard-earned cash to buy this fundamentally tasteless garbage; no one. So how are the food processing industries going to get you to buy their tasteless, refined, weight enhancing products. 

Well, they have to add something back to make these foods more seductive and palatable for human consumption. What taste sensation is the greatest surface area of the tongue devoted to? Salt. And what is the most sensitive area at the tip of the tongue devoted to? Sweet. So, guess what. If this reprehensible food processing industry wants to get the maximum bang for your buck, and get you to buy tasteless fragmented foods, guess what they have to add back to these products, salt and sugar. It’s no mystery, therefore, that these are the two most common additives in all processed fast junk foods. Most of the sodium consumed in our culture comes from canned, packaged, processed, and restaurant foods. Unfortunately, that’s also true for a lot of vegan and vegetarian packaged food, since a large amount of sodium is often added to these items too. If you are eating whole plant foods without added salt, you will be well under a healthy ceiling of of sodium per day. However, if you are eating canned or packaged products, and many of us do to some degree, just read labels and opt for the lowest sodium and sodium free options. 

A helpful strategy for dealing with the removal of added salt to your diet is to use an assortment of healthy herbs, vegetables, and spices like many of the healthy plant-based ethnic cultures do. A diverse use of garlic, onions, mushrooms, basil, oregano, turmeric, ginger, sage, rosemary, thyme, etc. can add remarkable flavor and nutrition to any dish, and will help you make a much easier transition to salt free cooking and a low sodium diet.

This also means that you have to be a little bit patient and give yourself the time for your taste sensitivity to improve. It will not happen overnight. But good food has good taste. Spend your food dollar on the best quality plant foods you can find. You deserve it. The remarkable diversity of fruits and vegetables have exquisite taste. However, so many people have gotten so used to highly salted seasoned foods, and so goaded into overeating because of this stimulation, that they have lost the ability to experience the nuances and tastes of natural food. As your sensitivity improves, the taste of simple, plain whole natural foods will blow your mind. 

Again, when you try unsalted simple whole plant foods, and complain about the lack of taste, you have met the problem, and it is you. However, eating should be a personal and social pleasure in addition to satisfying our basic biological needs. When I eat, I want to be so turned on, so blown away by the taste of natural food that I can’t wait to eat it again. I want to look forward to eating and experiencing the diversity of flavors, colors, and textures that nature’s bounty provides. I want to feel and look forward to a level of satisfaction, energy and vitality that nothing, but this food can provide. Patience, time and commitment to healthy food choices is the required mantra. Just know, deep within your being, that the feelings and experiences of satisfaction, energy, health and vibrant healthy body weight are available to you whenever you choose to embrace them.

REFERENCES

1. Levings J, et al. Progress toward sodium reduction in the United States. Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2012;32(4):301-306. 
2. Appel LJ, et al. Population-wide sodium reduction: the bumpy road from evidence to policy. Ann Epidemiol. 2012;22(6):417-425. 
3. Imtask D, et al. high salt intake and bone health in postmenopausal women: exposing the lack of studies-a systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne) 2025 Nov 19;16:1694539.
4. Wacharaporn T, et al. Excessive salt consumption causes systemic calcium mishandling and worsens microarchitecture and strength of long bones in rats. Scientific Reports 2021 Jan 20;11:1850.
5. Sembajwe LF, et al. Glycocalyx-sodium interaction. Nutrients 2023 June;15(13):2873.
6. Vinaiphat A, et al. Damage arising from high salt hypertension elucidated by vascular bed system profiling. Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosic and Vascular Biology. March 2023;43(3):427-442.
7. Oberleithner H, et al. Salt overload damages the glycocalyx sodium barrier of vascular endotheliun. Pflugers Arch. 2023 July 28;462(4):519-528.
8. Haidong  Z, et al. Dietary sodium adiposity and inflammation in healthy adolescents. Pediatrics 2014 Mar;133(3):2635-2642.9. Basdeki Ed, et al. Does sodium intake induce systemic inflammatory response: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized studies in humans. Nutrients 2021 July 30;13(8):2632.