There is evidence that Salt-Related Health Problems include calcium urinary stones

Evidence that Salt-Related Health Problems include calcium urinary stones, as you can read on this pdf. - www.saltmatters.org/site/uploads/PDFs/SRHP%2025+table.pdf - This is one of the less well-known health benefits that can be experienced by reducing intake of salt and salty food. - See also Associated Health Problems.

More grist to my (salt) mill!

Yes! - More grist to my (salt) mill - my message about the many, many health benefits of eating less salt and salty food' - See this web article, published today: Is Salt Causing Inflammation and Autoimmune Disease?

If you are about to start taking amitriptyline then be prepared for weight gain, bloating, excessive thirst, painful breasts, swollen face, constipation, memory impairment and other problems.

If you are about to start taking amitriptyline then be prepared for weight gain, bloating, excessive thirst, painful breasts, swollen face, sodium retention, fluid retention, constipation, memory impairment and other problems. You can read here about the adverse effects of taking amitriptyline. The adverse effects are not temporary. You can mitigate the severity of these side-effects by seriously cutting down on salt and salty food.

The simplest and safest way to reduce premenstrual tension/syndrome

The simplest and safest way to reduce premenstrual tension/syndrome is to to cut down on salt and salty food. I invite you to read this webpage.

Dawn has lost a lot of weight by following my advice

Dawn started trying to lose weight at the beginning of January this year. She used to email me asking me for information and advice. (I can be emailed from my website.)

I told Dawn that for very overweight people like her, the fastest and safest way to lose weight is seriously to cut down on salt and salty food. She lost a lot of weight easily by following that advice.

But Dawn had a big problem that did not involve salt. This problem was her and her family's liking for sweet stuff, especially cakes and suchlike. For years she had been duped by the many misleading suggestions on the internet and elsewhere that by using artificial sweeteners instead of sugar, the lower calorie intake would result in weight loss. I explained to her that this was not true, but she found that hard to remember because of a lifetime's conditioning to believe the lies of the dieting industry.

I became very concerned about Dawn and sent her a particularly firm message about the dangers of eating artificial sweeteners - and indeed artificial additives of all kinds - and that message finally sank in, thank goodness. She gave up eating sweet and sugary foods. She severely cut down on carbs in general and instead ate mostly protein foods and foods high in healthy fat.

I'll bet you're wondering how much weight Dawn has lost since January. - Well she has lost well over 60 pounds in weight and looks set fair to reach a loss of 70 pounds, i.e. 5 stones, by Christmas! - That's a really impressive achievement, you will agree. - She has gone from a size 26 to a size 16! - And she is feeling sooo much better...(o:

Obesity is on the increase in Scotland. Scottish people desperately need to be told the truth about how to reduce obesity.

BBC News reported in November 2009 that two-thirds of men and more than half of women in Scotland are now overweight. Well that's a great shame and much of that increase could have been avoided. It is about eight years since I contacted Bill Gray, who was at the time National Project Officer of the Scottish Community Diet Project, Scottish Consumer Council, and also others working in the same field. We wrote and we spoke on the phone. I sent him lots of material and evidence making clear that to reduce obesity/overweight it is necessary to reduce salt intake and that it is not necessary to diet or to try to lose weight by exercising. Unfortunately I accidentally deleted the blogpost from Sunday 29 November 2009, but since it was important and is still just as relevant, I am reposting it today, 8 October 2012.

This is an extract from what I wrote to him (in late 2001, if I remember correctly):

"As I explained to your female colleague, I am not asking you to endorse my
advice.

I am asking you to tell people that it could be salt and water retention
that has caused their weight gain and that if they reduce their salt intake
they could lose weight. They have only to try it. They will then find for
themselves that they lose weight. Without the information that salt can be
the cause of weight gain they are highly unlikely to discover it for
themselves.

I have quoted to you EXACTLY what Sir Richard Doll wrote to me, but you seem
to have discounted what HE says, as well as what I say.

Why I say you have treated me shabbily is mainly because you are not a man
of your word. You promised, TWICE, to reply to my letters. You did not
reply. Your colleague, stammering and almost incoherent when I spoke to her,
also promised me a response. Again nothing. Good God! You would think I was
asking you to tell people something that might endanger their health rather
that enhance it! Cutting down on salt is entirely safe and completely free.
Just give the additional information that it could also cause weight loss in
the obese.

Why don't you have the courage to believe Sir Richard?

My MP has sent me a photocopy of a letter he has received from Pauline
Jackson, a friend of mine and another of his constituents. In a separate
email, I shall send you a copy of it.

THEN PLEASE COME BACK TO ME ON THIS.

Copying my stuff and passing it on to others in the hope that they will have
the courage to do what you yourself lack the courage for, is just a waste of
time and paper. They will be as cowardly as you have shown them that you
are. They too will be unwilling to put their heads above the parapet and you
will all continue to leave many THOUSANDS of people needlessly suffering all
sorts of health problems and all sorts of emotional and social and
psychological distress. Do you really want that on your conscience?"

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, depression, liver and kidney problems, boost your lung function and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.
Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection
Sodium in foods
http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

See advice for pregnant mothers
Children and Obesity
Associated health conditions
and FAT RETENTION

Pfizer involved in deception over new arthritis painkiller drug Celebrex

"A research director for Pfizer was positively buoyant after reading that an important medical conference had just featured a study claiming that the new arthritis drug Celebrex was safer on the stomach than more established drugs. “They swallowed our story, hook, line and sinker,” he wrote in an e-mail to a colleague. The truth was that Celebrex was no better at protecting the stomach from serious complications than other drugs. It appeared that way only because Pfizer and its partner, Pharmacia, presented the results from the first six months of a yearlong study rather than the whole thing."
Read article in the New York Times (USA)

Really I don't think arthritis painkilling drugs are worth the candle. They've done a great deal of harm over the years. See my posts about Vioxx, for example.

You can reduce the pain of osteoarthritis by the simple expedient of seriously cutting down on salt and salty food. This dietary measure also lowers high blood pressure, reduces your risk of heart attack, stroke, depression, fractures, some cancers and many other degenerative illnesses, as well as reducing excess weight caused by fluid retention and helping with breathing problems. - What's not to like? - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

Are you overweight and apple-shaped? You could reduce this problem by reducing salt intake.

Are you overweight and apple-shaped? You could reduce the problem by cutting down on salt and salty food. Everyone who is overweight has a higher than normal blood volume because of excess water/fluid retention, and would benefit from eating less salt/sodium. 

(Steroid victims in particular are at risk of huge weight gain and the dangerous condition of being obese and apple-shaped, because they are so seldom informed that they need seriously to reduce their salt intake while taking the steroid meds.)

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, angina, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

The Queen: her feet look swollen

In this article in the Telegraph today, the photograph of the Queen's feet in patent leather shoes gives the impression that either the Queen is wearing shoes that are too small for her (unlikely) or that her feet must have swollen while she has been wearing them. It seems to me that she is experiencing that common problem of having feet that swell as the day goes on because of excess fluid gravitating downward.

The Queen was not overweight when she was younger, but her four pregnancies were probably a big factor in her developing excess fluid retention. I'll bet she's glad to get out of her court shoes at the end of her busy day and put her feet up!

The Queen's problem of fluid retention and swelling feet would be reduced if she were to cut down on salt/sodium and salty food. - If you too, dear Reader, suffer from swollen feet, I make the same suggestion to you. - You will feel sooo much better!

Leave it out! - The salt, that is.

If you want to lose excess weight, the fastest, simplest, safest way is to leave out the salt when you are cooking, give up sprinkling salt on your meal and cut down on the ready meals/fast food/processed food/pizzas/crisps and other highly-salted products that you eat. Home cooking of fresh food allows you to control the amount of salt that goes into a dish - as well as being more nutritious anyway. - Here's some information about the amount of salt/sodium in foods.

On Radio 4's Inside Health programme today one of the topics discussed was Tinnitus

On Radio 4's Inside Health programme today one of the topics discussed was Tinnitus. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that cutting salt intake was mentioned as helpful with this problem. Nonetheless if you type something like "tinnitus salt reduction" into your favourite search engine you will see that many people find that sodium reduction reduces the intensity of their tinnitus. I believe this is because there is a connection between tinnitus and fluid retention. - Anyway, since we are constantly advised these days to eat less salt to reduce heart disease and the risk of high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke, and it is manifestly good for health to reduce salt intake, why not take the plunge and seriously cut down on salt and salty food? This is a safe, cost-free and drug-free course of action. It may very well improve your tinnitus problem as well as benefiting your general health and longevity. - What's not to like?

If you check the salt/sodium levels in the packets and cans in your food cupboards you may be surprised at how high they are

If you check the salt/sodium levels in the packets and cans in your food cupboards you may be surprised at how high they are. On labels, more than 0.5g of sodium (1.25g salt) per 100g is high, less than 0.2g sodium (0.5g salt) is low. To convert sodium content to salt content, multiply the sodium by 2.5
Find out more about Sodium in Food.

In general, if you are overweight, then to improve health and lose weight you need to be eating and drinking food that is as natural as possible - cooking fresh meat and fish and vegetables, drinking plain water and tea, rather than choosing highly processed food containing high salt levels.

Food Additives could be Harming Your Health

Food Additives could be seriously harming your health: read this article in the Ecologist. Remember also that salt is a very harmful food additive if you are vulnerable to salt.

The adverse effects of prescribed drugs often prove far worse than the health problem for which they have been prescribed

The adverse effects of prescribed drugs often prove far worse than the health problem for which they have been prescribed. This is particularly the case with prescribed steroids and prescribed antidepressants. This newspaper article gives details of a woman who is suffering the usual side-effects from prescribed steroid medication, and the Comments beneath the article illustrate how some sufferers would rather have continued with the original health problem than be having to endure the distressing side-effects. But their doctors did not warn them about the routine serious side-effects. Steroids are particularly damaging to children and teenagers, even when, as in Tara's case, the medication was really necessary.

Anyone considering taking antidepressants should realise that these drugs are no better than placebo (dummy) pills. - See Anti-depressants 'no better than dummy pills'. Nevertheless, despite being largely useless at alleviating depression, the many adverse side-effects are common and long-lasting - sometimes life-long. There are much safer therapies, e.g. MIND, the mental health charity, recommends a walk in the country as being helpful in lifting depression.

Are you on a diet? - Dieting/inadequate food intake is an often overlooked, but very significant, cause of depression. Good nutrition is an excellent way to improve your health. Obviously when you are not eating enough for the needs of your body and your brain you will experience both physical and mental harm. - It is not necessary (or desirable, or effective, or even safe) to diet to lose weight. The safe, natural way to lose excess weight is to cut down on salt and salty food. Avoid ready meals and takeaways because these are usually highly salted and offer poor nutrition. They are likely to worsen your feelings of depression.

When taking prescription drugs that cause fluid retention/sodium retention/weight gain, including steroids, antidepressants, anti-convulsants, anti-epileptics, anti-psychotics and many other drugs, you need to keep your intake of salt and salty food as low as possible. This is the way to reduce the harm that the side-effects cause.

New warning about high salt content of bread

BBC News reports that Consensus Action on Salt & Health (CASH) campaigners are warning again about the high salt content of bread. "A third of breads contain more salt than recommended under guidelines being introduced next year, a survey found. Most breads were within the current guidelines of 1.1g of salt per 100g - but this is being cut to 1g per 100g. Campaign for Action on Salt and Health (Cash), which looked at 300 breads, said it was "outrageous" that bread contained even the current level."

These are the groups of people who are vulnerable to salt. If you are vulnerable to salt you may like to consider cutting down on the amount of bread you eat. At any rate, you could benefit your health by choosing a lower salt bread, using the information given on the CASH website.

The Department of Health remains complacent: "The Department of Health said "considerable" salt reductions had already been made." - That's as in 'considerable' salt reductions from the scandalously high levels of salt most bread has contained for many years. The bread industry has assuredly played a major part in the distressingly high incidence of high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease and obesity in modern times. It has also helped to cause most people in our country to develop a taste for salt - like an addiction - such that food with little or no added salt tastes too 'bland' to them.

"British Retail Consortium food director Andrew Opie said retailers and manufacturers are to fund independent research to look for ways of meeting the 2012 target - "while still making foods which consumers want to buy"." - I'll translate that for you. - It means that they are doing their damnedest, by means of additives and technology, to lower the salt content by the minimum they can get away with, while retaining the same degree of salty taste in order to keep their customers addicted to salty bread.

Study links high salt intake by elderly people with increased risk of dementia

A Canadian study links high salt intake by elderly people with increased risk of dementia, as the Daily Mail reports. So salt can impair brain power and memory, as well as increasing blood pressure, risk of stroke, heart attack, heart disease, diabetes, depression, arthritis, asthma, kidney damage, liver damage, most cancers, osteoporosis, increased risk of fractures and many other degenerative health conditions.

The good news is that if you have had your health damaged by eating too much salt, you can immediately, dramatically and safely improve every aspect of your health and every organ of your body by seriously cutting down on salt and salty food. - And if you are overweight or obese you will also lose weight when you reduce your salt intake. - Go on! - Try cutting down on salt and salty food! - You will feel sooo much better...(o:

Fat and fed up of feeling hungry and tired but still not getting slimmer?

Fat and fed up of feeling hungry and tired but still not getting slimmer? It's not fair, is it? - It's definitely not fair!

Now what to do about it, you're wondering? - Well I've some suggestions to make which I truthfully think you will find helpful. - Give up the dieting! - Give up the strenuous exercise you've been (vainly) hoping would 'burn off' some fat! - In other words, give up the deliberate and unhelpful hunger and exhaustion, and instead try seriously cutting down on salt.

I think you'll find that by eating less salt and salty food you will lose weight easily, safely and quickly. I have a webpage that tells you about which foods are high and which are low in salt/sodium. And I promise you that however much or little weight you lose this way, you will certainly feel a lot better and will be in better health. It won't make you hungry and it won't make you tired, but it will give you a very good chance of becoming slimmer and fitter. - What's not to like? - Go on! - Give it a try!

You may think you don't eat much salt, but have you ever really looked at the nutrition info on the convenience foods you buy?

I think if you check the label information about salt/sodium in your food cupboards and in your fridge you may be shocked at how much salt you are actually eating, even though you very rarely sprinkle salt onto your food yourself. - The food manufacturers usually add a lot more salt to food than you yourself would add. If you were making up a breakfast cereal from scratch yourself, it would probably not even occur to you to add salt to the bowl of cereal, but most breakfast cereal manufacturers add a lot of salt to it. - It's a very cheap ingredient for one thing. I'm sure you can think of other reasons too.

Most health advisers these days recommend that adults should eat no more than 6g a day of salt. That's 2.4g of sodium a day, because to convert sodium content to salt content you need to multiply by 2.5. And for children, because of their smaller size, the recommendation per day is less, in proportion to their size. Salt is especially harmful for babies. Babies should not be given food that contains any added salt at all.

It's very easy to eat too much salt because so many modern foods contain high concentrations of it, for example most bread is high in salt; so is bacon, and cheese, and cornflakes, and processed meats. I invite you to visit my webpage that tells you more about which foods are high in salt and which are low in salt.

Did you know that for people who are sensitive to salt, salt intake can cause weight gain? - You may be sensitive to salt and not know it. Most people who are sensitive to salt do not know that they are. Cutting down on salt and salty food can be a very easy, very fast, completely safe way to lose weight. - What's not to like? - Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - You have nothing to lose but your excess pounds!

I am very tired and in very great pain.

It is a bit of an embarrassment for me to write that I am very tired and in very great pain because I so often write that cutting down on salt/sodium reduces tiredness and reduces pain. Maybe you think, reading this, that I should practise what I preach, and you are right. I should practise what I preach - and I do.

Late in 1997, when I first began to discover the benefits of eating less salty food, I was, literally, so tired I could scarcely even summon the energy to blink! I am not exaggerating. And I was in so much pain that to walk even one step was like torture, and lying down in bed was so fraught with pain it was like lying on a bed of nails. I would certainly have died before the end of 1997 if I had not started to cut down on my salt intake, even though I already ate very little salt.

If you are reading this while you are very tired and/or in constant or intractable pain, I urge you to consider reducing your intake of salt and salty food. Try it! - Go on! - It is a truism that what can't be cured must be endured, but by cutting down on salt you really will feel better than you do now. There are many, many health benefits that result from eating less salt. I invite you to visit my website and find out more about how to reduce your salt intake, and about other natural, drug-free ways of improving your health and well-being.

Psoriasis? Some members of the Psoriasis Help Organisation have found reducing salt intake has greatly reduced their problems with Psoriasis

Some members of the Psoriasis Help Organisation have found reducing salt intake has greatly reduced their problems with psoriasis. See Psoriasis Help Organisation forum page about Salt Sensitivity. In fact, cutting down on salt intake improves health in many ways, particularly in lowering high blood pressure and reducing obesity and risk of stroke, heart attack, heart disease, most cancers, breathing problems and type 2 diabetes. Why not try cutting down on salt and salty food for yourself? - Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better...(o: