Salt
40,000 Deaths A Year!
The high levels of salt that manufacturers add to everyday foods are responsible for killing many thousands of people every year. Experts say that of the 200,000 people that die from cardiovascular disease every year in the U.K., about a fifth, or 40,000, would be saved if salt levels were cut. This puts manufacturers of such foods in the same league as heroin dealers and means they are responsible for and causing many unnecessary deaths every year by dishing out chemical substances that are hazardous. Even worse, they are forcing people to imbibe such chemicals without realizing it or without being given a choice. You can always add more salt but you can't so easily take it away.
If You Don't Take It, You Don't Miss It!
Salt and sugar are effectively the same as any other drug in as much as the body acclimatizes to having it. The more you have it, the more you miss it, making it all the harder to live without it. However, if you don't take it in the first place, you don't really miss it. So do we actually need it at all? Well, we all need a little bit of salt but we don't want to be damaged or killed from overdosing!
Save Lives And Save Money!
Saving unnecessary deaths is not the only issue. Overdosing on salt costs the health service millions of pounds every year. So why is it, given these facts, that we haven't yet addressed this particular issue? It appears that salt is another one of those things, like alcohol and tobacco, that legally kills more people every year than all illegal drugs put together, and yet is still allowed to get away with it. It is still marketed freely in copious amounts in just about everything edible that is man-concocted.
What Are The Dangers?
Salt levels in the body are regulated by the kidneys, however, too much salt simply overloads the kidneys to the point where they cannot cope and the excess then ends up in the bloodstream. This causes more water to be drawn into the blood and consequently raises blood pressure levels. Higher blood pressure levels greatly increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and strokes. Excessive salt intake has also been linked to kidney stones, asthma and Alzheimer's disease, and experts say doubles the risk of contracting stomach cancer.