Salt, vital for your life

Salt was already present in the primitive sea, in a proportion of 9 g/l (against 25 to 40 g/l today), when life first appeared there, about 2.5 billion years ago. That is why water and salt are vital substances, necessary for the correct functioning of all living organisms, from bacteria to mammals, from mushrooms to trees. Salt is therefore vital for man and animals, for the correct functioning of their organs, nervous system, tissues and bones. It ensures the water balance as well as the maintenance of muscular tension.

It is estimated today that, in temperate climates, like that of Switzerland, the salt intake needs of an adult vary between 6 and 10 g/day. This quantity may be considerably higher in hot weather or during intense or prolonged physical effort: perspiration contains 2 to 6 g of salt per litre, and an average adult can sweat up to two litres a day during a heat-wave.

Deprivation of salt was used as a torture in the Middle Ages. According to certain descriptions of the time, the victims died after months of atrocious sufferings and paralysis caused by cramps. To alleviate their distress, they even opened their veins to drink their own blood.

Salt for preserving Food

Before the invention of refrigeration and the 'cold chain' concept, salt was essential for preserving food. That is why, if you read old cooking recipes, you will notice that meat had to be desalted before cooking, which is still necessary with some products, such as salted cod.

Since then, the consumption of salt has progressively decreased, as figures for the Swiss Canton of Vaud show :

It is important to mention that much of the salt 'consumed' is not 'ingested' as food. The food salt used for numerous domestic applications, such as salting the water of pasta, removing wine stains from fabrics, shining the silverware or de-icing the doorstep, is reported in the statistics as 'consumed salt'. However, this does not mean that it was ingested. Medical studies provide a more accurate figure for ingested salt, and the value seems to have remained steady in Europe for about thirty years (the date of the first large-scale studies on the subject) and is around 7 to 9 grams per day per person on a yearly average.