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From:	Just Me (67.137.157.170)
Subject:	Re: Sodium %DV
Date:	April 2, 2012 at 10:24 am PST

In Reply to: Sodium %DV posted by Augusto on April 2, 2012 at 3:52 am:

Augusto,

It is my understanding that our REQUIREMENTS for sodium are quite low, whereas the various governmental agencies that put out nutritional recommendations, when it comes to sodium, are looking at the fact that the general population consumes multiple times the highest recommended amount, resulting in high blood pressure and other negative conditions. Of course, I could be wrong, but this is my understanding.

Here is a very interesting excerpt from a report on sodium from the World Health Organiziation (WHO):

"While sodium is an essential nutrient in man, physiological need in acclimatized adults is only of the order of 8–10 mmol/d (184–230 mg/d) (Dahl, 1972). In contrast to the present day, our predecessors during 70 million years of mammalian and primate evolution, and 4–15 million years of hominoid and hominid evolution leading to Homo sapiens had no exposure to sodium (salt) as a food additive, only to sodium occurring naturally in foods and water (Denton, 1982). This was true also for Homo sapiens during tens of thousands of years of evolution as a nomadic food gatherer and hunter, until about 6000–8000 years ago when agriculture and animal husbandry developed, and for the first time, the need to have a substantial reserve of food. Hence there developed a requirement to preserve food, i.e. by salting of meat, fish, vegetables and dairy products (Stamler, 1993). Our species evolved in the warm climate of Africa (Leakey, 1991), a salt-poor continent, on a low salt diet of no more than 20–40 mmol sodium/day; it became – and remains – exquisitely adapted to the physiological retention and conservation of the limited salt naturally present in foods. We are not optimally adapted to the excretion (via the kidneys) of large quantities of sodium, many times physiological need, that has become necessary with the addition of salt to foods late in human evolution (Denton, 1982; Stamler, 1993)."

Personally, I don't concern myself with %DVs. I just eat a variety of fresh, whole, raw, ripe, organic fruits and veggies and trust that my needs will be met over time. If I start to exhibit negative symptoms, I'll consult with Dr. Graham on that, but 'til then, I've got some weak links to keep me busy. :)

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