Why Do We Need Salt and Sprinkle It On Our Food?

Salt is something we tend to take completely for granted and as it is a substance that is necessary for our survival it is lucky for us that it is also one of the most common minerals on Earth. It is formed mainly from sodium chloride and is a crystalline solid that is white, light gray or pale pink in colour. It is an essential part of the diet for all humans and animals, and the sodium and chloride ions are vital to keep our bodies functioning.

It plays an important part in the regulation of the fluid balance of the body. Salt cravings can be caused by a deficiency of sodium chloride or by a lack of other trace minerals. What we use on our tables today as a condiment is produced in several different forms, such as an unrefined form like sea salt, or refined like table and iodized salt. It is also an important preservative, and is used extensively in the preservation of food. The flavour is one of the basic tastes, making it one of the oldest and most commonly used seasoning in the world. In the Western world traditionally there are four taste sensations: sweet, salty, sour and bitter. We lose salt from our bodies through sweating and excretion, so we constantly need to replace what we lose, especially in very hot weather.

However, having too much of it in your diet can cause you to experience health problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease and an increased risk of stroke. Large quantities in your diet can also cause water retention. Fully grown adults should ingest no more than 6g a day, which is approximately a teaspoonful, and in the UK alone reducing the average daily intake by adults could prevent around 17500 premature deaths a year. Children and babies need a lot less than this. A baby only needs less than 1g a day up until it is around a year old. Breast milk and infant formula contain the correct levels, but it is important not to add any extra to baby’s food when they start eating solids and to not give them processed foods that are not specifically made for infants. Another benefit of reducing your intake is that you might begin to notice a broader range of flavours in your food.

Much of the salt that we consume is hidden in the food that we eat, so it is not just what we add to our food that is the problem. Foods that have an especially high content are processed foods, bread, cereals, salty snacks and foods that have been canned in brine or preserved in salt. These foods should be avoided or cut down on where possible, and replaced with fresh, home-cooked meals.

Iodine is also commonly added to salt, especially in inland areas where there is little iodine in the soil for the crops to absorb. A lack of iodine in the diet can lead to problems with the thyroid gland in the neck know as goitre. In the United Kingdom this used to be commonly known as ‘Derbyshire Neck’ as it was a condition particularly prevalent among the poorer sections of society in Derbyshire, particularly young women of child bearing age a century or so ago.

In the UK, for the first time a 'salt cave' has been opened in South London. This new attraction is a room with a coating of salt on the walls and floor and the air is full of salt particles. Sitting in this cave is supposed to be very beneficial for respiratory problems, and can aid in the clearing of mucous from the airways,reducing sinus infections, and helping people with asthma.

It is believed that we first started adding it to our food when our early ancestors started cultivating crops in about 10,000 BC and started to eat less meat. Earlier, prehistoric hunter gatherers had derived all the sodium that they needed from the large amounts of meat and fish that they ate. They also discovered that you could use it to preserve food, so that they could store it at times when food was plentiful to be used when supplies were running low.

Early civilisations learned that they could obtain it from dried out lakes, by boiling or evaporating sea water or mining for it in areas where solid salt forms in the ground. However, supplies remained scarce until modern times, and for most of recorded history this popular condiment was regarded as a rare and valuable commodity, due to the expense of extracting it and then conveying it overland or by sea. In Iran in 2005 a group of salt mummies were discovered in the ancient mines. These are the bodies of workers who had perished whilst working in the mines around 1700 years ago and whose bodies had been naturally preserved by the salt.

Taxes on salt were introduced by the ancient Chinese, and there were times when the revenues raised made up half of the Chinese Empire’s tax revenues. The Great Wall of China would probably never have been built without this tax! The Romans also taxed it and one of the famous Roman roads the ‘Via Salaria’ or salt road was built to transport this precious commodity. The infamous French salt tax known as the ‘Gabelle’ was hugely unpopular with the French people. It was first imposed in 1286 by King Philip IV and was not repealed until 1790. There was also a long history of taxing it in India, and the huge increase of this tax by the British which led to salt becoming unaffordable for a lot of Indians was one of the issues that flared up and helped pave the way to Indian Independence.

It is said that in ancient times, when an enemy was conquered, the victorious army would sow it into their fields so that they would not be able to grow their crops. The most well known example is the Romans ploughing it into the soil after they conquered Carthage in 146 BC, although this is disputed by scholars as it is not mentioned in ancient texts but is mentioned by the 19^th century German historian Ferdinand Gregorovius.

We still commonly use the term ‘above the salt’ which originated in the Middle Ages when a salt cellar was placed on the dining table, and the important people of the household were seated ‘above the salt’ and the lesser folk and servants were seated on the other side of it. The fact that the condiment was expensive was shown by the fact that these salt cellars in prosperous households were often large, very ornate and made of precious metals. Other phrases based on it that we still use are ‘salt of the earth’ denoting a person who is very worthy which reflects how valuable the condiment was regarded as, ‘taken with a pinch of salt’ which means that what has been said should not be taken too seriously, and ‘worth one’s salt’ which harks back to the custom of Roman Legionnaires receiving some of their wages in the form of salt.

Too much of it in their environment is extremely toxic to many plants, and soil that contains too much is not suitable for agriculture and tends to be very unproductive. Natural salt lakes tend to be very dry and arid areas. Worryingly, salt sterilizing the soil in regions that are normally fertile is becoming increasingly problematic as a major environmental and economic issue in some parts of the world. In certain regions of Australia, soil salinization is occurring partly due to sea salt being brought inland by wind and flooding and then being forced to the surface by modern farming practices such as irrigation and clearing the land. The thin top-soil layers have become far too salty for successful agriculture and it is estimated that more than 2.5 million hectares of land has become unusable because of these modern farming practices.

Finally, you would normally feel safe from a shark attack swimming in the fresh water of a river, right? Sharks live in the briny waters of the oceans, don’t they? Wrong! Bull sharks are considered by experts to be one of the three species of shark most likely to be aggressive to humans, along with great whites and tiger sharks. They generally live in shallow waters near the coast in tropical regions, but they are among the only sharks that can survive in brackish and fresh water. They have been spotted thousands of miles up the Amazon River, been caught 900 miles up the Mississippi River and leap the river rapids in Nicaragua to reach Lake Nicaragua which is inland. So that river you like to have a swim in might not be so safe at all!

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