Why Is Sodium Essential To Human Health

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The American Heart Association states that about 75 percent of the sodium we consume comes in processed and restaurant food.
Sodium is essential to human health. Sodium is an extremely important electrolyte and an essential ion, and the mineral helps to regulate fluids, so that the body knows when to lose and gain water again. One benefit of sodium on health is that it plays an important role in enzyme operations and muscle contraction. Some other health benefits include improved heart performance, a more sensitive nervous system and improved glucose absorption.

On the other hand, the consumption of excessive sodium over time is linked with high blood pressure, which can eventually lead to health problems like heart attack and stroke. Sodium may be an essential nutrient in any balanced diet, but it can also cause stomach cancer, hypertension and kidney problems. People suffering from kidney problems or edema are encouraged
The main causes are the consumption of too much food with high salt content. Eating salt would then raise the amount of sodium in your bloodstream and may wreck the balance of sodium, which leads to the reduction of the ability of kidneys to remove the water. Na+ ions would be transported in lesser amounts at a slower rate, from the higher concentration to lower concentration to the excretory organs like the bladder. This is due to the reduced difference between the concentrations. With more sodium, the body would retain water more. This would result in the collection of unwanted fluid in the kidney, and reduces the ability of the kidney to filter out unwanted and toxic waste products, which then start to build up in the body. Over a long-term basis, this may eventually lead to kidney disease. If kidney disease is left untreated, the damage can lead to kidney failure. This is when the kidneys are no longer able to be filter blood and the body slowly becomes poisoned by toxic waste

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