Excessive Salt Consumption Can Lead to Addiction and Stomach Cancer
Core Tip: Do you like your food very salty when cooking or dining out? Be careful of addiction and stomach cancer! Excessive salt intake is harmful to your health with no benefits. Studies show that consuming too much salt can lead to addiction and even increase the risk of stomach cancer, seriously affecting your health. Aimei.net editors share healthy eating knowledge, reminding you to keep your diet light.
Addiction
Research results show that if mice are not given salt, they become depressed and even lose interest in the sugar water they normally love. This finding led researchers to believe that "a lack of salt or a craving for salt can trigger depression and other similar symptoms."
Researchers also found that the brain activity of mice without salt is similar to that of "addicted mice" without drugs. "This means that the way the brain behaves when it needs or craves salt is the same as when it becomes addicted to and abuses drugs."
Previous studies have shown that salt promotes fluid flow in the body, but excessive intake can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and may even cause stomach cancer.
Harmful to Health
Doctors recommend that adults consume no more than 6 grams of salt per day.
Controlling salt intake is crucial. Experts say, "A poor diet can lead to heart disease or stroke, which in turn can cause unnecessary deaths. If we want to reduce the number of deaths from these causes, we must control our salt intake. Among the many salty foods, soups are a major hidden source of salt, especially canned cream soups, which can contain up to 3 grams of salt per can." Experts advise people to read food labels carefully when buying canned soup or to make their own soup, starting with small steps to reduce salt intake.
Concerns About Excess Salt When Dining Out
The Salt and Health Collaboration and the UK's Trading Standards Service sampled 96 meals from 16 popular UK restaurants earlier this year to investigate their salt content.
The results showed that three-quarters of the main courses from these restaurants contained more than 3 grams of salt. More than a third of the restaurants sold main courses with over 6 grams of salt, with one restaurant's teppanyaki chicken containing 8.8 grams of salt. Experts are concerned that because restaurants do not provide information on salt content, people cannot know how much salt is in their food and are unable to realize they are consuming too much. Finally, experts are calling on restaurants to use less salt in their food or to place salt on the table, allowing customers to season their food to their own taste.