to religion and politics, you can bet that the relationship between
sodium and public health will stir up a lively discussion in any professional,
nutritional or medical circle.
files on sodium and it's effect on health go back into the 1970's. We've
seen massive swings in public and medical opinions as regards sodium
during the last 20 years.
years ago the medical and health community was having trouble linking
heart disease, hypertension and other physiological disorders to sodium
intake. During` the 80's, we saw a resurgence in public health awareness---and
with that awareness came jogging, better nutrition and a dramatic public
awareness of the salt issue.
awareness had a dramatic, negative effect on many American industries,
including water softening companies and the salt industry in particular.
most recent and all-encompassing information drawn from extensive testing
and evaluation conducted at 11 major medical and health centers nationwide
appears to be homing in on some conclusions that we as health-conscious
individuals should take seriously.
most recent studies, being reported in the Journal of the American Medical
Association as this article you are reading goes to press, indicate
that significant blood pressure reduction was observed in those test
individuals who lost weight.
nearly identical drop in blood pressure was noted for those individuals
who were in the "salt-reduction" group.
the most interesting result was that little or no blood pressure drop
was noted for individuals in "stress reduction" or "nutritional
studies which will consider the link between hypertension and sodium
are in progress and should be concluded in a short period of time.
as part of our body structure, is essential to good health. All our
body fluids, including blood, seat and tears, contain sodium. It is
vitally essential to maintain the proper balance of sodium in these
example. Sodium ions comprise more than 90 percent of the basic ions
of our blood and, since sodium retains water, this sodium ion directly
influences blood volume. Excess sodium thus causes expansion of our
body's blood volume. In addition, sodium acts in other ways to constrict
arterioles, the smallest of our arteries.
the strain of a greater volume of blood(caused by volumetric expansion
due to excess sodium) coupled with constricted blood channels(also caused
in part by excess sodium) causes our heart to work harder than normal.
tell us that this greater than normal heart activity causes the heart
muscles to thicken and possibly enlarge. Unchecked, this process may
cause permanent damage to the entire arterial network. Heart disease
is America's #1 killer today.
medical authorities seem to agree that the above scenario applies to
perhaps 15-20% of the American population. Most studies have concluded
that the other 80% are not affected by sodium intake to a degree that
is easily noted by statistical studies.
to the most recent AMA studies, reduction of sodium intake by that 20%
group would cause up to a 6% drop in stroke deaths per year and a 4
percent drop in deaths from coronary heart disease.
there is much room for argument as to the exact percentile, but it is
important to note that similar results have been documented for life
extension and reduced pulmonary(lung and respiratory) diseases when
individuals stopped smoking.
we are talking about 20% of the American public, or roughly 50 million
people, who are prone to high blood pressure, or perhaps hypertension,
if they consume excessive sodium.
FDA, the EPA and a whole lot of dietary groups have tried for at least
a dozen years to determine what constitutes "low sodium",
"no sodium", "very low sodium", etc for food and
water product labeling.
the other hand, the American Heart Association has consistently maintained(for
at least 20 years) that a person whose sodium diet is restricted to
1/2 gram per day total intake, should not drink water which contains
more than 20 milligrams/liter of sodium.
tap water in the Santa Clara Valley contains anywhere from 20 to 300
milligrams of naturally-occurring sodium per liter of water. An average
we can find in the San Jose area runs between 50 and 100 milligrams
per liter or up to five times the levels recommended by the AHA.
the drought of 1975-77, in excess of 300 milligrams of sodium per liter
was being measured in our tap water. Much of our local water comes from
the Central Valley and the Delta areas where sodium intrusions from
the San Francisco Bay(tidal action every 12 hours) causes higher than
normal sodium levels to be present in dry years when less "flushing"
water from the mountain rivers is available to clean out the Delta.
softeners are a major contributor to sodium levels for those in the
20% category. Softeners turn calcium and magnesium "hardness"
to "soft salts" such as sodium.
If you are on a sodium restricted diet and are drinking "softened"
water for all practical purposes you may as well throw away your sodium-free
large amounts of salts are given out by regenerative water softeners
that over 60 cities in Southern California have banned these units because
of elevated salt levels in ground water reclamation projects(for irrigation
of orchards, etc) caused by water softeners and other sources.
many areas of the Valley, water hardness is quite acute and water softeners
will add several hundred of milligrams per liter of sodium to the water
portion of your diet, IN ADDITION TO the naturally occurring sodium
which is already present in local tap water.
you fall into the 20% which has a sodium sensitivity, you have several
alternatives. First, if you are drinking water from a water softener
in your home---STOP IMMEDIATELY. If you have no other water source,
at least use water which does not go through your softener---perhaps
an outside water tap.
if you are drinking tap water and, for whatever reason are using or
considering using bottled or vended water, use water that is labeled
"steam distilled water" or "for all steam distilled water
uses". These types of water contain no sodium whatsoever.
not buy water labeled "drinking water" since it is usually
only filtered with a carbon filter and will contain any and all sodium
present in the source water.
you are on a restricted sodium diet, do not invest in simple carbon
filters for your home. They do nothing to reduce sodium, heavy metals
such as lead, bacteria or other contaminants. In your case, they would
be a total waste of money.
osmosis will reduce the amount of sodium in drinking water a significant
amount when the equipment is new. As you use the system over a few weeks
and months, the water from this type of system begins to look more and
more like the tap water going into it.
is particularly important if you are using a reverse osmosis system
in conjunction with a water softener. The softener puts out copious
amounts of sodium---and while the reverse osmosis unit may initially
remove 80-90 percent of this sodium, it will quickly deteriorate to
virtually pure sodium content in your so-called "purified"
safest and most effective way to process tap water to remove sodium
and other unwanted contaminants is through the use of a home steam distillation
inexpensive, compact and easy to maintain home distillers are becoming
commonplace in homes in the valley where sodium and chemicals are unwanted
in the family diet.
For small families, they now cost less to purchase and less to operate
than reverse osmosis systems, providing cleaner and better tasting water,
more reliably and under a wider range of input water.