Gayatri Kulkarni explains how sodium plays an important role with regard to your health.
Sodium is one of the important electrolytes. Sodium is an important constituent of fluids present within the cells and outside of the cells in our body. Sodium plays a vital role in maintaining levels of water and other substances in the body. Proper concentration of sodium is essential to maintain osmotic balance (the control of water and electrolyte balance in the body). The kidney and adrenal glands are responsible for maintaining the sodium level in the blood.
Functions of sodium
- It regulates acid-base balance
- It helps in the maintenance of normal osmotic pressure
- It helps in water balance and cell permeability
- It helps in normal muscle contractions
- It facilitates the absorption of sugar and amino acids
All food substances contain sodium. Common salt or edible salt is sodium chloride (40% sodium and 60% chloride) and is the major source of sodium in daily diet. Bread, pickles, pizza, cheese, readymade soups packets, fast food are having high sodium content.
Source of sodium
The main food source of sodium is common salt which is readily available in the market in the form of sodium chloride. Salt is also used as a preservative in various foodstuffs. Some common compounds used in food preparations include baking soda, baking powder, monosodium Glutamate (Ajinomoto) etc.
It is also present in all the foods and vegetables which can be called Invisible sodium. Most of the sodium is present in animal foods such as milk and meats. Most of the plant foods with exceptions are low in sodium.
The normal blood sodium level is 136-145 meq/ L. If it is more than 145 meq/L, it is called Hypernatremia and if it is less than 136 meq/L it is called Hyponatremia.
Deficiency of sodium
Sodium deficiency is rare in healthy individual. Hyponatremia is a condition in which plasma sodium concentration below 135 mmol/L. it generally seen in severe medical conditions like excessive sweating, extensive burns cases, chronic and uncontrolled diarrhoea, vomiting, kidney diseases.
Excess intake of sodium
Excess sodium or salt intake may put you in risk of: enlarged heart muscles, headache, kidney diseases, osteoporosis, stroke, heart failure, high blood pressure, kidney stones, stomach cancers.
Excess sodium levels in the body may cause- puffiness, bloating in stomach, weight gain which is known as “water retention”.
Recommended Dietary Allowance
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (CMR), NIN -2020 guidelines, the recommended dietary allowance for Indians is 2000 mg/day sodium which is measured as 5 g of salt per day.
Sodium intake has increased with the increased number of processed foods, ready to eat foods, ready to cook foods, fast foods like pizza, burgers, ready-made chips, pickles, papad, salty biscuits etc. It is advisable to restrict the sodium intake by reading the Nutrition Labels of the packaged foods.
The National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau (NNMB) has conducted a large nutrition survey in urban areas in 2016 in 16 states in India. In this study, the 24- hour dietary recall of salt intake was collected from 13,000 household adults. The salt consumption in rural areas was assessed by NNMB in 2011 and 2012. Salt intake in rural areas was below the recommended level in both the genders in adults whereas in the urban adult population the salt intake was much higher than the recommended level.
NNMB concluded that the median sodium intake is higher than the recommended level by WHO (2000 mg) in the urban adult population (18-60 years) and much lower in the rural adult population.
ICMR
Sodium requirement for Indians:
Infants (0-6 months): 500 mg/ Day
(7-12 months): 650 mg/ Day
Children (1-3 years): 1000 mg/ Day
(4-6 years): 1300 mg/ Day
(7-9 years): 1600 mg/ Day
Adult (18-60 years): 2000 mg/ Day
Sodium and salt converter
1 g of salt is equivalent to 400 mg of sodium 5 g salt is equivalent to 2000 mg of sodium.
While reading food labels we should know about these:
- Salt/ sodium free: less than 5 mg of sodium per serving
- Very low sodium: 35 mg of sodium or less per serving
- Low sodium: 140 mg of sodium or less per serving
- Reduced sodium: at least 25% less sodium than the regular products
- No salt added or unsalted: no salt is added during processing but these products may not be salt/ sodium free unless stated.
Fact: average Indian consumes around 11 g of salt/ day which is doble the amount of salt recommends (5 g/ day)
How to reduce sodium intake?
- Eat mostly fresh, minimally processed food
- Do not sprinkle salt on fruits, buttermilk
- Use herbs, spices to flavour food
- Limit the usage of commercial sauces, dressings, instant products
- Limit the consumption of processed food
- Our body needs only a small amount of sodium (500 mg/day) to function properly
- Do not add salt in chapati dough, while cooking
Gayatri Kulkarni is Consultant Dietician.
