Salt is the very essence of any food. It helps bring out the taste and flavor of the food we eat. But salt in too much quantity can destroy the very thing it is used to enhance. An essential ingredient in everyone’s life, it maintains the fluid in our bodies and also helps send nerve impulses and also controls muscle functions. The amount of salt required by our body is controlled by the kidneys.

    The most common salt we use is the table salt which is a combination of 40% sodium and 60% chloride.

1/4 teaspoon salt = 575 mg sodium

1/2 teaspoon salt = 1150 mg sodium

Source of salt in our system

   About 77% of the salt we consume comes from food we prepare or get from packed food items and restaurant food. The rest of the salt we get occurs naturally in the vegetables we buy and about 12 percent we add over and above what is already present in the cooked food. Thus controlling the intake of....