To find out the effects of salt on the human body Brief Discussion: The issue about the use of salt as food has been debated for a long time. Some say moderate salt intake is essential for the health. Others say that salt is totally unnecessary, and has no nutritional value. This paper would try to find out the effects on the human body. Materials: Computer with Internet connection Procedure: The Word Wide Web was used to research on the effects of salt on the human system. The data collected were read and analyzed. These new learnings were then put into own words by the researcher in the Results section of this paper.
Results: Salt, in chemical terms is Sodium Chloride (NaCl) the element that the human body needs is Sodium. The body needs this mineral in order to function properly. Most food already have Sodium in them, like fruits and vegetables that we do not really have to add salt in our food to supply our daily need (Rice, 2001). Harmful Effects of Salt Research shows that salt causes eye problems. Edema (bloating) or the swelling of a body part occurs in the eyes if the body intakes too much salt. The alignment inside the eye may be upset causing a person to see refracted images.
Even if the eye can be surgically repaired, the source of the problem can’t be fixed. Cloud formation inside the eye has also been linked to too much salt consumption (Cumming, 2000). When we take to much salt, the body requires a lot of water to “cleanse” all the sodium that we have taken. This makes our body bloated with fluids. Most scientists think that this increase in bodily fluids is related to hypertension, which can lead to heart problems. The heart is affected by high blood pressure because all this liquid inside the body causes the heart to pump more blood, causing coronary disease.
There are a lot of variables that cause hypertension and heart disease, a number of scientists does not believe that salt is responsible for this problems. Humans are able to cleanse the body of excess salt through the kidneys by urine. Infants however, do not have developed kidneys yet to filter large quantities of salt. Premature intake of food with salt to babies can cause kidney problems and sometimes even death. It is advised that babies drink only milk at least for the first four months. Baby food are supposedly low in salt, but to be sure, natural, unprocessed food are best.
(BBC, 2006) Salt also causes stomach problems. It disrupts the digestion process. When salt is introduced in the stomach, the production of a digestive enzyme called pepsin is reduced to half to what it is supposed to produce. This in turn, would result into indigestion (Bragg, 1998). There’s also a chance that osteoporosis is related to salt intake, especially among girls though there have only been few cases that can prove this (SACN, n. d) Salt, by itself, can cause immediate death, if taken in large amounts in one sitting.
In China, salt were used as a suicide method, while mistaken identity with sugar has caused death to some children (Turk, et. al, 2005). Post-Lab Questions 1. ) What are the other possible effects of salt other than the ones mentioned above? It can be good effects to contrast it to the harmful effects or more harmful effects to stress salt’s bad effects. 2. ) Find out how much salt exactly humans need.
References
Rice, W. DC. (2001). The Shakedown on Salt. September 2008. from: http://www. healthy-answers. com/a-salt. html Cumming R. G. (2000). Dietary Sodium intake and cataract: the Blue Mountains Eye Study.
American Journal of Epidemiology. 2000. Vol. 151, pp 624-6. BBC. (2006). Salt. Health section. BBC. co. uk. September 2008. from: http://news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/health/medical_notes/393201. stm Bragg P. Ph. D. (1998) How to keep your heart healthy and fit. September 2008. from: http://www. living-foods. com/articles/kicksalt. html Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN). (2003). Salt and Health. Norwich: TSO Turk, E. E. (2005) Fatal hypernatremia after using salt as an emetic—report of three autopsy cases . Legal Medicine. Vol. 7. pp. 47-50.