Is Artificial Salt A Healthy Option?

Humans have evolved to take more care of themselves. Salt and sugar being the basic ingredient of every Indian cuisine, people are curious to find a healthy substitute for them.

- Shruti Pandey

But as it is ' the healthy substitute ' for sugar, there is still a long road to travel to find the one for salt. At present, available in the market are low sodium salts. The main motive of any salt substitute is to reduce the sodium content of salt. It has been long since the human tongue has been adjusted to the insatiable taste of salt (NaCl). Table salt is a compound formed by mainly sodium and chloride ions. Sodium Chloride is an inorganic metal halide. Major dishes and food products use NaCl as a defining factor of flavor. Not only it acts as a flavor enhancer ,but also is used as a preservative for food products like pickle, dried fish, canned meat and meat products etc. But focusing on the brighter side we always fail to understand the vitality of its overuse. Salt is a major ingredient of Indian diet. It is true that our bodily needs of sodium are fulfilled to the major portion by sodium chloride.

Importance of sodium and chloride.

Sodium is one of the major mineral electrolytes required by the body for maintenance of external as well as internal fluids of the cells in the body. It helps in maintaining nerve impulse, contraction of muscles and regulation of body pH.

Chloride has functions similar to sodium's as an electrolyte, while it helps in maintaining acid-base balance in the body. Blood chloride levels change in accordance with level of sodium since chloride acts as a buffer.