Let’s reduce salt intake! is the catchphrase that has been actively promoted in many regions throughout Japan to “reduce salt intake.
In some places, the recommendation to reduce salt is now being taught even to junior high school students because reducing salt can help prevent high blood pressure, arteriosclerosis, and myocardial infarction.

Reduce salt, as a shortcut to the need to reduce the amount of salty foods.
Instead of avoiding miso soup, many children are drinking sweet corn instant cup soup.

By the way, do you think should salt be reduced?

The fact that sweat, tears and snot are salty when licked tells us that our body fluids are made of salt water.
The water in our bodies is made up of physiological saline solution, or 0.85% salt concentration.

The important thing to remember is that our bodies are generating electricity.
Electrocardiogram, electroencephalogram and electromyography are all testing methods that show that electricity is flowing through our bodies.
Being able to confirm that electricity is flowing is the only way to verify the person’s survival.

Electricity flowing = alive.
“Salt” is necessary for electricity to flow.

I remember doing this fun experiment with a friend to confirm that putting an electrode in salt water would light up a light bulb, and I doing it during science class in elementary or junior high school!
And we also did an experiment where we put an electrode in sugar water, but the light bulb did not conduct electricity.
Sugar is an insulator, so it does not conduct electricity.

We need salt to keep us alive, to generate electricity, to generate current, to get our hearts going, to get our brains going.
Salt is very important for our life.

I wonder if the term “less salt” might induce the behavior of avoiding something that is necessary for our life, of being afraid of it, of being hostile to it.

The kind of salt we need for our lives is sodium along with magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc and its rich diversity of minerals.
This is, in other words, unrefined salt.

In our bodies, minerals work as a team in rich diversity.
The presence of sodium together with magnesium prevents blood pressure from rising, and the presence of magnesium and calcium together increases calcium absorption.

So we cannot say that simply reducing “salt” leads to good health.
Here is the sodium that really needs to be reduced.
・Sodium nitrite Sodium nitrate
 ・・・・・Coloring agent (ham, sausage, etc.)
・Sodium sulfite Sodium hyposulfite
 ・・・・・Bleaching agent (food whitening)
・monosodium glutamate
 ・・・・・Seasoning (gives flavor to food)
・Sodium lactate
 ・・・・・ph-adjuster (adjusts the ph of food)
・Sodium hydrogen carbonate
 ・・・・・Bulking agent (fluffs up food)
・Sodium benzoate
 ・・・・・preservatives
・Sodium phosphate Sodium polymerized phosphate
 ・・・・・Emulsifier

These are additives in which sodium is taken out and used by itself, without magnesium or calcium together.
When too much of this sodium is consumed, there is a high risk of raising blood pressure, straining blood vessels, and straining the heart.

It’s the added sodium that should be reduced.
So, let’s tell our children don’t hate well-made miso soup, pickled plums, soy sauce, and pickles because they are food that leads to lives!

There are many carefully crafted natural, unrefined salts available throughout Japan.
I am sure it will be fun to looking for it on your trip!
Shopping is voting.
Let’s support such a wonderful salt production together so that it will not cease!

Author ; Mayumi Inoue