Public Health Specialist Specialist Doctor Edanur Köyceğiz emphasized that salt, also known as sodium chloride (NaCl), is an important substance used in food preparation and increasing the durability of food.
Reminding that in the 711th couplet of Kutadgu Bilig in the form of “This sha'ir sözi sözke kattı tuzı”, the expression of adding salt to the word is used in the sense of beautifying the word, Specialist Doctor Edanur Köyceğiz said, “As the excess of everything is harmful, excessive use of salt is also inconvenient for human health. It is recommended by the World Health Organization that total daily salt consumption, including what we take with food, should not exceed 5 grams (1 silme dessert spoon or 1 heaped teaspoon). However, in the SALTurk study conducted in our country in 2008, it was determined that our salt consumption was 18.01 g/day on average, 14.8 g/day in the SALTurk-2 study (2012) and 9.9 g/day in the Turkey Household Survey.”
“Excessive salt use is harmful”
Stating that the reason for drinking salty buttermilk immediately when blood pressure or blood pressure is low is the blood pressure raising effect of salt, Specialist Doctor Edanur Köyceğiz said, “Then, excessive use of salt may cause our normal blood pressure to rise. In fact, studies have shown that each 100 mlmol/day of salt consumption leads to an increase of 5.8 mmHg in systolic blood pressure (large blood pressure) and 3.8 mmHg in diastolic blood pressure (small blood pressure). In addition, excessive salt intake increases calcium excretion from the kidneys, which can adversely affect bone structure and cause osteoporosis (osteoporosis). Excessive salt consumption has also been associated with many diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, kidney diseases and obesity.”
“Let's taste the food first”
In the Public Health Bulletin of Erzurum Provincial Health Directorate, Specialist Doctor Edanur Köyceğiz listed the things to be done in order to keep salt use within the recommended limits and continued her words as follows: “We should give up our habit of adding salt without tasting the food we will eat. Knowing that our taste buds can change, we should gradually accustom ourselves to eating less salt. We should consume fresh vegetables without adding salt. Thus, it will be possible to get the real taste of the vegetable instead of salt. Instead of flavoring our food with salt, we should give spices, which have a wide place in our culture, a chance. I wish you healthy days with a balanced and adequate amount of everything in your life, including salt.”
İHA Haber Kodu: 20241103AW321324