"Canada’s leading health experts are finally sounding the alarm: Excessive sodium is poisoning our population and creating an entirely preventable public-health crisis," writes Carly Weeks in Saturday's Globe and Mail.
"About five million Canadians have high blood pressure, and Norm Campbell, a medical professor at the University of Calgary, says that simply cutting dietary sodium would eliminate one case out of every five. 'I think it really is a time for action,' says Dr. Campbell, who was appointed the first Canadian Chair in Hypertension Prevention and Control by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and a coalition of other groups in 2006. 'It’s almost negligent we haven’t done something about this before.'"
Dr. Campbell was online earlier to take your questions about our government's policy around the way food manufacturers treat salt, as well as its effect on our health.
Dr. Campbell is a professor of medicine at the University of Calgary. Dr Campbell holds the CIHR Canadian chair in hypertension prevention and control and is the chair of the Canadian Hypertension Education Program (CHEP) steering committee and the CHEP executive committee. CHEP develops, implements and evaluates the impact of Canadian hypertension recommendations. Dr Campbell is also the president of Blood Pressure Canada, a coalition of 25 organizations dedicated to the prevention and control of hypertension in Canada.
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Margaret writes: It is my understanding that, unless specifically requested, none of the industrial salt used in Canada is iodized. Even the little packets of salt at the restaurants are not iodized. That leaves us consuming way too much sodium and almost no iodine. This is a public health travesty right up there with industrial milk products almost never being fortified with vitamin D. Fortunately a few brands of yogurt are now getting past this issue. The question is: Are we seeing the results of iodine deficiency in Canada as a result of this practice?
Dr. Campbell: In Canada, the salt used by food processors usually does not contain iodine, while the salt we buy in food stores for use in cooking and at the table is usually iodized. Iodine deficiency is rare in Canada according to experts at Health Canada and I have very, very rarely heard of anyone in Canada with iodine deficiency in my clinical career of 25 years. However, in many developing countries, iodine deficiency remains an important public health issue. In these settings increasing the amount of iodine added to salt, adding iodine to salt used in food processing and adding iodine to other food sources are potential solutions to preventing iodine deficiency while lowering dietary sodium.
Disease associated with high sodium intake is very common both in Canada and in developing countries.
Duke writes: Hi Dr. Campbell: I eat little or no salt. I have a little on my soft boiled egg in the morning and I may put a few drops of soy sauce on my fish in the evening. My blood pressure is low, and in the morning too low. 110/55 . Once I am up and about may go up to 115/70, which is good for my age (79). That's the good part. Now, my problem is that when I hike or exercise I get hot and drink water. But I do get dehydrated, despite the water. I may feel dizzy or sleepy if I lose too much sweat. I have been told that I get dehydrated because I don't take enough salt. It was suggested that I eat salted crackers, while exercising or hiking. What do you think? How much salt does a person need when doing physical work and how much when not? I don't want to over-do it.
