If there is one condiment that must be the least important in the kitchen, it has to be salt, without which the dish will become tasteless.
But the headache is that there are too many types of salt on the market, and all kinds of salt occupy a full shelf, and the price is uneven.
For example, sea salt, well salt, bamboo salt, lake salt, rose salt, calcium salt, selenium-rich salt...... Some only have two or three yuan for 1 pack, and some are as high as dozens of yuan, what is the difference between them, and is the expensive salt more worth eating?
Why do people eat salt?
Eating salt is not only for the sake of making dishes tastier, but also for good health, because the sodium ions in salt are important players in maintaining the body's vital activities.
Sodium has important functions such as regulating the volume and osmotic pressure of the body's extracellular fluid, maintaining the acid-base balance of the body's body fluids, maintaining normal blood pressure, and participating in the body's energy metabolism. Maintaining a certain concentration and appropriate proportion of sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and other ions in body fluids is necessary to maintain neuromuscular stress, and the normal concentration of sodium is an important factor to ensure this function.
Although sodium is widely found in foods, most natural foods are not high in sodium, except for some aquatic foods. Therefore, it is difficult to meet the body's sodium needs by eating natural foods alone (the appropriate intake of sodium is 1500 mg/day), and eating salt properly can help us replenish enough sodium.
If sodium intake is insufficient, it can affect the normal physiological functions of the body and cause hyponatremia. Mild sodium deficiency can make people apathetic, tired, and lack of energy, and in a slightly more severe case, nausea, vomiting, blood pressure dropping, cramps, and severe cases can lead to shock and even death. In particular, patients with high temperature work and heavy manual labor, and patients with gastrointestinal diseases who have recurrent vomiting or diarrhea should pay more attention to sodium supplementation.
What is the difference between different salts?
When I went to the supermarket to buy salt, I saw that there was all kinds of salt, and the simple matter of "buying a bag of salt" instantly made people have a phobia of choice.
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Salt from different sources
Well and mine salt, lake salt, sea salt, these salts are just different sources, they are essentially sodium chloride, there is not much difference.
Mine salt
Salt made from stone salt or underground brine (excluding underground brine from coastal areas). Geologically speaking, almost all of the places where there are well mines and salt are seas in ancient times, and after historical changes, under the action of scorching sun, strong wind and evaporation for many years, the sea water dried up, and the salt continued to precipitate, forming a layer of salt cover, and then it was covered and buried by sediment, and was buried underground with the violent movement of the earth's crust.
Because it has been "isolated from the world" for too long, after processing, its sodium chloride has high purity, few impurities, and is relatively pure, which is more common on the market, and the cheap one is only 2 yuan for 1 pack.
Lake Salt (Pond Salt)
Lake salt is salt extracted directly from salt lakes and salt made from salt lake brine in salt pans, and the mainland is one of the few countries in the world that is extremely rich in lake salt mineral resources.
Lake salt particles are large and not easy to agglomerate, so the product basically does not need to use anti-caking agents.
Sea salt
Edible sea salt is made from seawater or sea salt; Sun-dried sea salt is edible sea salt prepared by concentrating and crystallizing sun-dried seawater; Refined sea salt is made of seawater or sea salt as raw materials, and is prepared by vacuum evaporation salt production process, mechanical heat compression evaporation salt production process or crushing, washing and drying process; Snowflake sea salt is a snowflake-like edible sea salt made from sea salt through dissolving, filtration, evaporation, crystallization and drying.
Sea salt is not easy to agglomerate, and the product must not contain anti-caking agents, and potassium ferrocyanide/sodium ferrocyanide is not added. In addition, the purity of sodium chloride in sea salt is relatively low.
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"High-grade salt" on the market
Bamboo salt and Himalayan rose salt give people a very high-end feeling, and their essence is also to supplement sodium chloride, but the flavor and appearance are slightly different from ordinary salt.
Bamboo salt
Ordinary bamboo salt is a salt made of table salt as raw material, which is sealed by loess and fired at high temperature after being poured into a fresh bamboo tube once (or many times). Nine roasted melted bamboo salt is salt as raw material, with or without the addition of food additive potassium chloride, after eight times poured into the fresh bamboo tube after the loess sealing, high temperature firing, the ninth firing using high temperature to melt the formation of salt.
Bamboo salt is white, off-white or purple-brown, and has a salty taste while also having a fresh or preserved egg flavor. The price of 250 grams of bamboo salt per pack is mostly between 7~10 yuan.
Himalayan rose salt
It is a kind of rock salt, which is said to be mined near the Himalayas in Pakistan, and the natural pink color comes from the iron element in it, which has a high appearance and high price, and the price of 250 grams is nearly 20 yuan. This salt may be higher in iron than the salt we usually eat, but don't expect iron supplementation, it generally does not contain iodine.
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Nutrient-fortified salt
In addition to the iodized salt we eat daily, there are also some salts that have been fortified with nutrients, such as calcium salt and selenium-rich salt, which makes many people mistakenly think that "eating such salt is more nutritious".
The recommended intake of calcium and selenium for the average adult in mainland China is 800 mg/day and 60 micrograms/day, respectively, and these "nutrients" play a very small role in nutritional supplementation.
The Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents recommend a maximum of 5 grams of salt per person per day, and the maximum intake of 7.5 mg of calcium or 0.75 micrograms of selenium is at this amount, which is far from the recommended amount and has little effect.
If you eat salt in order to consume these so-called "nutrients", it will be worth the loss!
A certain brand of calcium salt
A certain brand of selenium-rich salt
Choose the right salt to eat
Instead of choosing expensive
For our average family, it is recommended to pay attention to the sodium content and iodine content of salt when buying salt.
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Low sodium salt
Low-sodium salt is a part of potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride, and the saltiness is almost the same as that of ordinary table salt, and cooking does not affect the taste. If you have cardiovascular disease or high blood pressure, a reasonable choice of low-sodium salt can help lower blood pressure. However, it is necessary to be cautious about eating low-sodium salt for high-temperature workers, heavy physical laborers, some people with kidney disease, uremia patients, etc.
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Iodized salt
Iodine is an essential trace element for the human body, an important raw material for the synthesis of thyroid hormones, which can maintain human health, and the consumption of iodized salt is mainly to prevent goiter caused by iodine deficiency.
A brand of iodized salt
Most of the continent is almost deficient in iodine, especially in mountainous areas, hills, river valleys, desertification areas and river erosion areas. In iodine-deficient areas, it is necessary to eat iodized salt. Even if you live in coastal areas, you need to eat iodized salt. Although foods such as kelp and seaweed in coastal areas are rich in iodine, if the local population eats it less frequently and in lower amounts, it is still necessary to eat iodized salt to make up the recommended amount.
However, for residents living in areas with high iodine in water sources, it is recommended to eat non-iodized salt. In addition, patients with hyperthyroidism and some thyroid tumors are also suitable for eating non-iodized salt. However, not all thyroid diseases need to eat non-iodized salt, and you must follow the doctor's instructions according to your own situation.
Use salt in limited quantities
Eating salt is necessary for maintaining health, but eating more is not always better, and the World Health Organization and the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents recommend that the daily salt intake should not exceed 5 grams.
This is because the harm caused by a high-salt diet should not be underestimated, and it will cause a series of health problems in the body. Not only can it induce high blood pressure, but it also stimulates the body's inflammatory response, and even increases the risk of osteoporosis, stroke, gastritis, and may also affect cognitive performance.
In addition to controlling salt intake, you should also pay attention to invisible salts in your life, such as soy sauce, oyster sauce, steamed fish soy sauce, soybean paste, miso, pickles, kimchi, etc.
The salt content is calculated as follows: sodium content (mg) in the nutrition facts list ÷400 = salt content (g)
There are many types of salt, and there is no need to pursue "high-end" and "nutritious". For us ordinary people, we only need to choose low-sodium salt, iodized salt, etc. according to personal needs. No matter what kind of salt you eat, you should control your salt intake and eat lightly.
Source: People's Daily Science WeChat public account (ID: peoplekpzg)
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