check yourself

1.Question: what are the main properties of table salt and sugar?

Answer: Table salt and sugar are crystalline solids white, odorless, soluble in water, with taste: sugar - sweet, salt - salty; table salt and sugar are excellent preservatives; in order to prepare vegetables and fruits for future use and prevent them from spoiling, we either salt them or make jam from them. Salt and sugar are complex substances in their composition. The components salt and sugar are part of the blood. Both the lack and excess of the components salt and sugar in human blood lead to diseases. (an increased level of sugar in the blood will lead to diabetes, and its deficiency will lead to poor mental performance, a deficiency of sodium, a component of salt, will lead to hypotension - low blood pressure, and an excess will lead to hypertension, kidney disease.) In order for a person to constantly replenish the necessary the amount of sugar and salt in the body, we salt and sweeten food, we also do this to improve the taste of the food we eat.

2. Question: How to detect starch in food?

Answer: in order to detect starch in food, you need to cut the test product with a knife and drop a drop of iodine onto the cut; if after some time a blue-violet spot appears on the cut, then the product contains starch.

3. Question: what acids are found in nature?

Answer: citric, malic, oxalic, and lactic acid are of natural origin.

4. Question: why is acid rain dangerous?

Answer: Any precipitation that contains pollutants - nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides and other acidic oxides - is called acid rain. The consequences of this meteorological phenomenon For environment They are deplorable: they destroy plants, deprive animals of food, and pollute water bodies. Humans also suffer from acid rain; the body reacts to pollution with the appearance of a number of diseases.

Homework assignments:

Task 2.

At home, take three saucers, and pour sugar into one of them, table salt into another, and starch into the third. How to distinguish these substances?

Answer: in order to distinguish between sugar, starch and table salt, it is necessary to divide each substance into two parts, add a drop of iodine to one part of all substances, the substance in which the blue-violet spot forms is starch. The rest of the substances can be tasted, which is sweet - sugar, and which is salty - salt. In general, you cannot taste unknown substances, but in this experiment it is known for sure that the substances are harmless and can be distinguished by taste. But this is an exception to the general rule!

Next lesson

Question: remember how you can prove that there is air around us. What is the importance of air for plants, animals, and humans?

Answer: wind, especially strong wind, is clear evidence of the presence of air around us. The wind tears light leaves from trees and heavy roofs from houses. Wind is the movement of air masses.

Our breathing is also a way to detect air. While drawing air into our lungs, we can hold our breath and then noisily release the air. This is especially noticeable outside in winter when it’s freezing.

You can also inflate bicycle tires with air using a simple pump.

And blow up the balloon. And the walls of the balloon seem to be holding nothing back, but it is elastic and retains its shape.

Air is of paramount importance for all life on Earth - we breathe it, that’s why we can live. Strictly speaking, we do not breathe air, but oxygen, which is part of the air.

An obligatory companion for any tea party, confectionery masterpieces and simply the sweet life. But in order for sugar not to harm our body, we need to know a lot about it and not exceed the dosage.

For most people, sugar is common White sand sucrose. There are a huge number of varieties of sugars in the world. In terms of sweetness, the sweetest is fructose (fruits and honey), then sucrose (sugar cane and sugar beets), glucose (honey, fruits and vegetables), maltose (sprouted grains) and lactose (milk sugar).

Based on their composition, sugar is divided into monosaccharides, disaccharides and polysaccharides. Monosaccharides are grape sugar (glucose), fruit sugar (fructose) and galactose. Disaccharides are milk sugar (lactose), malt sugar (maltose), beet and cane sugar (sucrose).

Like potatoes, vegetables, legumes and grains, sugar is a complete source of carbohydrates. Different kinds sugar and starch are the most important carbohydrates for humans, which give energy to muscles and the body, organs and cells. The norm of carbohydrate consumption is 300-500 grams per day. Monosaccharides are quickly absorbed, passing from the intestines directly into the blood, so eating them quickly restores lost strength.

The healthy type of sugar is . By the way, it contains 80% sugar (glucose, fructose and sucrose) plus minerals And useful microelements(iron, potassium, calcium, copper, magnesium, sodium and phosphorus).

According to statistics, each person consumes about 40-50 kilograms of sugar per year, which is about 110 grams per day. If your diet contains few foods containing vitamin B (liver, eggs), sugar will be harmful to the body. In order to break down sugar, the human body needs vitamin B1, the symptoms of a deficiency of which are precisely a decrease in efficiency and attentiveness.

Most sugars are digested fairly quickly. But the faster your blood sugar level rises, the faster it falls. This is why the energy effect from sugary drinks or chocolate is fleeting and ultimately leads to drowsiness. If you eat regularly and in small portions in combination with sufficient amounts of complex carbohydrates, the body does not experience stress from changes in blood sugar levels.

Sugar is a high-calorie product. Our usual sugar is made from sugar beets or sugar cane. The record holder for calorie content is regular white granulated sugar and refined sugar. Brown cane sugar is slightly lower in calories, but not too much. Honey contains the least amount of calories.

Consumer properties of salt

Table salt has been used for human food for many centuries. In the old days, salt was considered wealth. Therefore, an indicator of generosity was the tradition of greeting guests with bread and salt.

Salt can be white, pink, black, iodized, extra, dietary, sea. Each type of salt has its own purpose - iodized is suitable for salads, extra for pickles, sea - excellent disease prevention.

Table salt is sodium chloride, commonly known as table salt, rock salt, or simply table salt. This product is vital for the human body.

Salt is involved in many metabolic processes, in the transmission of nerve impulses. It contains chlorine ions, which promote the production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. Salt in general is involved in regulating the water-salt balance of the body. Lack of salt can lead to the destruction of bone and muscle tissue, nervous disorders. This includes depression, nervousness and mental illness, digestive and cardiovascular disorders, osteoporosis, anorexia. Chronic lack of salt in the body can be fatal.

But, despite the fact that without salt human body will not survive, salt is contained in all natural products that are eaten, which means there is no need to add salt to them. It's a matter of taste. In this case, excess salt is absorbed by the body. And it is excreted through the kidneys with urine and sweat. Impaired kidney function can lead to edema with excess salt intake. Salt attracts water and retains it in the body. If the volume of fluid in the body is excessive, swelling appears, blood pressure rises, and the kidneys cannot cope. Salt should be consumed in moderation.

The most beneficial is iodized salt. But iodized salt should only be used for dishes without heat treatment. Otherwise, the iodine in the salt will evaporate and may even give the food a bitter taste.

Coarse sea salt is also no less useful. The traditional formula for table salt is sodium chlorine. Sea salt contains potassium chlorine. Potassium displaces sodium and helps reduce blood pressure. It is also useful for people with diabetes because it regulates the amount of glucose in the blood.

Taste sea ​​salt softer and richer than the table variety. Moreover, due to the natural crystallization of sea salt, it has no expiration date. Even after 20 years, not a single mineral will be destroyed by ultraviolet radiation and oxygen. Table salt has an expiration date. Iodine is added to this salt artificially; it is destroyed over time. Edible sea salt from different seas has different chemical compositions and different concentrations of micro- and macroelements.

Sea salt is divided into grades. The most valuable variety is gray sea salt. It is gray from inclusions of oceanic clay with particles of the microscopic algae dunaliella. This is incredible medicinal plant has antioxidant properties.

How to choose quality sugar and salt

Salt and sugar should be dry and crumbly in appearance. If you find a large lump in a bag of sugar, it means moisture has got into it. It's better not to take this kind of sugar. Improper storage of bulk products can lead to the formation of mold.

To distinguish fake brown sugar, which is actually made from cane and is rich in vitamins, dilute a small amount of it in water and add a drop of iodine. The liquid will turn blue - the sugar is high quality.

Sugar produced in Russia according to the standards of the sugar industry must contain the mark GOST 21-94 - granulated sugar, GOST 22-94 - refined sugar, GOST R 52305-2005 - raw sugar. Most of the salt on Russian shelves is domestically produced; its reserves in Russia are the largest in the world. It is called “edible salt” and is made according to GOST R 51574-2000. If these standards are indicated on the packaging, then they guarantee a quality product.

When buying salt, read on the packaging how it was extracted: this affects the amount of harmful sodium chloride and the presence of beneficial minerals in the composition. The type of salt will also indicate this: extra, highest, first or second. This is an indicator of the degree of purification and grinding of salt. From a health point of view: the lower the grade and the closer the composition of the salt is to natural, the more beneficial it is. It is no coincidence that sea salt is considered the most beneficial.

There is always salt on the packaging there must be an indication of:

• The product's name.
• Production method: evaporation, stone, cage or self-planting.
• Salt grade: extra, highest, first or second.
• Grind number or size of salt crystals.
• Fortification information: potassium iodate or iodide, iodine concentration, and for dietary salt: information on potassium and magnesium compounds.
• Information about additives: anti-caking, stabilizing, etc.
• Recommendations for consumption: no more than 5-6 g per day.
• Manufacturer's name and legal address
• Shelf life.

The same information should be present on the sugar packaging, with the exception of the grind number and grade.

Sugar and salt must be stored in glass and hermetically sealed containers. And iodized salt should be stored in a dark place.

They have long been the most familiar products present in our daily diet. Some people consider them harmful and try to limit the amount of sweet and salty foods, while others, on the contrary, value sugar and salt for their healing properties.

Our body needs a certain amount of salt daily. According to experts, the human need for sodium chloride is up to 5 g per day. These are not only the white crystals that we add to food, but also the so-called “hidden salt” contained in prepared foods. Without salt, the formation of full-fledged gastric juice and bile is impossible. Sodium chloride ensures the constancy of blood composition, normalizes intercellular metabolism, and maintains the optimal level of electrolytes in body fluids. Salt deficiency leads to malfunction gastrointestinal tract and deterioration in muscle function. For severe physical activity, stress, hot weather, etc. The amount of salt consumed daily should be increased.

Nowadays you can buy different types of salt in stores. You can choose the cheapest one - cookery, or pay attention to imported varieties. According to nutritionists, the most useful is sea ​​salt. As you know, our blood is close in composition to sea water - in addition to sodium chloride, it contains various chemical elements. That is why sea salt will help you not only improve the taste of food, but also optimize your metabolism. Add it to ready-made dishes so as not to disturb the balanced chemical composition by heat treatment. Table salt is attractive due to its low price, but it beneficial features small. And if there is an iodine deficiency in your region, replace regular salt with iodized salt - this way you can avoid thyroid dysfunction.

It is very useful to add natural salt to prepared food that has not been subjected to chemical or heat treatment. Similar products can be purchased at pharmacies and specialty stores that sell dietary supplements. Natural salt contains valuable impurities for our body - soluble mineral compounds. Unlike sea salt, this salt does not help against iodine deficiency, so additional use of iodine-containing drugs is advisable.

Remember that almost any useful substance shows its valuable properties when consumed in small quantities. Large doses of salt have the opposite effect. People who prefer salty food to fresh food experience swelling, salt deposition in joints, digestive disorders, and hypertension. Excess sodium chloride affects the kidneys and liver, as well as the cardiovascular system. It is no coincidence that in most diseases internal organs Doctors recommend limiting the amount of salt consumed, replacing it with herbs and spices that improve the taste of food. For example, the popular Japanese diet is based on avoiding salt.

Do not add salt to prepared food - it already contains sodium chloride! If you love fast food and often visit cafes or restaurants, don't reach for the salt shaker. The dishes you have chosen have already been salted by the chef. Imagine - one tablespoon of traditional soy sauce contains almost all daily norm salt! You can add vinegar, lemon juice, natural vegetable oils. A sensible approach to sodium chloride consumption will allow you to avoid unwanted consequences and create a balanced diet.

In addition to cooking, salt is used in cosmetology. For example, salt baths for strengthening nails and cuticles are very useful. Dissolve 2 tablespoons of sea salt in a small amount of cool water and dip your fingers into the liquid. After 20 minutes, dry your skin and nails with a terry towel. Carrying out this procedure daily will help you cope with hangnails, brittle nail plates, and chapped hand skin. Not a large number of natural salt will be appropriate when making homemade face and neck masks, homemade shampoos and hair creams.

In medicine saline solutions a certain concentration is used to restore water balance in the body - for example, after operations and severe injuries. Such liquids are an ideal basis for dissolving drugs introduced into the circulatory system.

Sugar is another popular food that can be both medicine and poison. It all depends on the amount you consume daily. From the point of view of chemists, the group of sugars represents easily digestible carbohydrates. Once in the body, they are absorbed and become a source of energy. You've probably noticed that after eating chocolate or sweet cookies, your performance increases dramatically. Unfortunately, this effect is short-lived. Fast-processing carbohydrates quickly run out and your body needs nutrition again. And an excess of such substances leads to weight gain.

In everyday life, the word “sugar” means sucrose. Besides it, there are many types of sugars. Each of them has individual properties. For example, the sweetest is fructose, which is present in natural honey and fruits. The sucrose we know is found in sugar cane and sugar beets. Glucose is found in vegetables, fruits and honey, and maltose, which has a sweetish taste, is found in sprouted cereal grains. Milk, accordingly, contains milk sugar - lactose.

In addition, sugars, it turns out, can be external and internal. According to nutritionists, substances related to internal sugars are present in the cell walls of plant shoots and roots. External sugars are found in plant juices, nectar, and pollen. The most beneficial are internal sugars, since they enter our body along with fiber and other valuable compounds.

Don't overdo it with sugar consumption! If there is a certain genetic predisposition, excess glucose in the blood can cause the development of a severe endocrine disease - diabetes mellitus. As you know, blood sugar levels are regulated by the hormone insulin, produced by the pancreas. Insulin reduces the percentage of blood sugar, and the antagonist hormone glucagon, on the contrary, increases it. In diabetes, glucose levels become either too high or too low, which in most cases poses a threat to health or even life. The rate of sugar consumption is individual for each person. You can consult a nutritionist and find the optimal level of sucrose consumed daily.

The vast majority of sugars are absorbed very quickly by our body. Blood glucose levels immediately rise, but after a while they return to average. The feeling of a surge of strength is replaced by drowsiness and apathy. That is why nutritionists advise limiting the amount of sweet foods in the diet, consuming them only as dessert or as an addition to the main meal.

If you want to prolong the energy effect that comes from eating sugar, choose sweet foods that contain fat and protein. For example, you can eat chocolate, buttercream cakes, desserts, etc. Glucose in combination with lipids is absorbed more slowly, so it lasts longer. Unfortunately, such a diet can lead to weight gain, so don’t get carried away.

Thanks to annoying advertising, many of us mistakenly believe that Brown sugar much healthier than traditional white. The unusually colored sucrose has a pleasant taste and is quite high cost. This product is made from crystals of ordinary sugar, covering it with cane molasses and boiling using special technologies. Varieties of brown sugar differ from each other in the percentage of molasses they contain. Dark sugar is more aromatic and rich in taste than light sugar. There is a popular belief that these types of sucrose are absorbed slowly and do not overload the body with carbohydrates. Actually this is not true. Essentially, brown sugar is regular sucrose with natural flavorings. In the body it undergoes the same changes as ordinary white.

So, you are already convinced that sugar and salt are not at all “ White death", as some adherents believe healthy image life. Maintain moderation in the consumption of these products - and your body will function normally.

(Photo illustrations: Gayvoronskaya_yana (photo 1), ilanporat (photo 2), AnnaRise (photo 3) Shutterstock.com)

Sugar and salt are quite similar in appearance. These are white crystalline substances, which are easily soluble in water. Both sugar and salt are consumed as food and are often found in powder form. But despite such a number of similar characteristics, each of the substances also has its own properties.

General information

Sugar, from his point of view chemical composition, is a substance from the group of carbohydrates. It is very valuable as a food product. Sugar is added to drinks, culinary and bakery products. Ice cream, sweets, pastry creams, cocoa and tea are all prepared using sugar.

Sugar

Salt, in the language of chemistry, is sodium chloride. It is also used in food preparation and, like sugar, in certain quantities is important for maintaining human health. Excess salt or sugar is harmful to the body.

Salt

Comparison

The substances, first of all, have different origins. The difference between sugar and salt is that sugar is obtained from organic raw materials. This substance is extracted from cane, special varieties of beets, maple and palm sap. Salt is of mineral, inorganic origin. It is found in natural deposits, which can be found very deep, at the bottom of reservoirs. There is also a technology for obtaining salt by evaporating special solutions.

If you compare grains of sugar and salt, you will notice that in sugar they look like miniature bricks, while in salt they have more rounded outlines. Sugar particles reflect light rays better, as a result of which this substance shines in an illuminated space. Salt has a more matte appearance because its grains absorb a lot of light. Sugar may have a beige tint. There is also a variety of product called brown sugar based on its color. If the salt has a tint, it is greyish.

It is impossible to confuse the taste of sugar and salt. Sugar is sweet and pleasant. Salt has, accordingly, salty. You won't be able to eat a lot of salt at once. Sugar has a peculiar sweet aroma, which is especially noticeable in a container that is not completely filled. The smell of salt is not detected.

You can understand the difference between sugar and salt by placing each substance in your palm. Sugar will make your hand sticky, while salt can cause a tingling sensation, especially if there is a wound on the skin.

Anna Dolaevskaya about why “white poison” is called that way

I love to eat delicious food. Diets, meticulous calorie counting and other “ladies’ entertainment” are absolutely not for me — could there be anything better than a cup of aromatic sweet coffee and cake? And, choosing between “steamed fish” and “pepper steak”, I will prefer the latter. But in Lately I became more and more interested in the question: only the lazy one doesn’t say that “salt and sugar are poison”, so it turns out that I myself, with my own hands, harm myself, more precisely, I feed myself poison? Can I eat sugar and salt? Are all the arguments about their harm true? Oleg Grishin, MD, PhD, head, helped me answer these questions. lab. respiratory physiology of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Research Institute of Physiology and Fundamental Medicine" of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (Novosibirsk), and Olga Krashennikova, nutritionist, private consultant on healthy eating(Saint Petersburg).

White crystals

The birthplace of sugar is India. Translated from Sanskrit, śarkaraḥ is “a grain of sand, gravel.” These grains of sand were produced from sugar cane as early as 3000 BC. e.! The ancient Romans also knew sugar—they established trade channels and purchased the miracle sweet from the Indians. And Russia became acquainted with sugar only in the 11th-12th centuries: then it was very expensive, and only the nobility could enjoy it. At the beginning of the 18th century, the reformer Tsar Peter I opened a “sugar chamber”: sugar began to be produced in Russia, and although raw materials were still imported from abroad, it became publicly available. Later, in 1809, the production of sugar from domestic raw materials—sugar beets—began to be established. And by 1897, there were already 236 factories operating in Russia, the productivity of which was up to 45 thousand pounds of sugar per year (about 735 thousand kg).

Salt has been known to mankind even longer than sugar. So, at the end of the 5th millennium BC. e. saltworks on modern territory Black Sea coast In Bulgaria, the city of Anhialo produced up to 4-5 tons of salt per year — now the city has been renamed Pomorie and is home to the “Salt Museum.”

On the territory of our country, salt production was also carried out by the Proto-Slavic tribes; the beginning of this activity dates back to the 5th century BC. Century after century, salt production in Rus' increased. For example, saltworks at Solovetsky Monastery already in the 17th century they produced 100-140 thousand poods per year, that is, 1630-2280 tons of salt!

Dolce Vita

Sugar is the common name for sucrose, which belongs to the disaccharides and is formed from two linked monosaccharides—glucose and fructose. Sugar is produced from sugar beets or cane. Sugar can be refined or not completely refined (this is the recently popular brown sugar). Unrefined beet sugar is rare because it has a strong and bad smell and bitter. On the contrary, raw cane sugar is in great demand. Its color can be of varying degrees of saturation - from golden to actually brown, which depends on what percentage of molasses is preserved after processing the raw material. Molasses contains various vitamins and minerals, but this does not reduce the number of calories in the product itself, that is, such sugar will not help you lose weight. How do the benefits and harms of sugar compare and in what quantities can it be consumed?

Benefits of sugar: Upon entering the body, sugar is broken down into glucose and fructose. Glucose is a source of energy for our body, which is spent on various physiological processes. In addition, glucose increases the antitoxic performance of the liver and is one of the “signal bells” for the body: when its concentration in the blood reaches a certain level, the brain receives a signal about saturation.

Fructose also provides nutrition to the body. Unlike glucose, it contributes less to caries, breaks down more slowly and does not cause a sharp increase in blood sugar levels. However, you should not get carried away with fructose. Recently, scientists are increasingly inclined to consider it no less guilty of the obesity epidemic than glucose.

Excessive consumption of sugar has a whole bunch of very unpleasant consequences.

• Decreased reserves of vitamin B1 and calcium in the body. “When digesting carbohydrates, vitamin B1 is necessary,” comments Olga Krashennikova, nutritionist, private consultant on healthy nutrition (St. Petersburg). — At the same time, sugar and other sweeteners actually do not contain it, that is, it must be supplied to the body with other products: for example, there is a lot of vitamin B1 in products made from whole unrefined grains, legumes and lean pork. In addition, to absorb sugar, the body spends a lot of calcium, which means it suffers. bone, and these losses also need to be replenished.”
• Premature aging skin. Excess glucose can attach to protein molecules (a process called glycation), including collagen and elastin, which are responsible for the skin's elasticity. In a glycated state, collagen and elastin perform their functions worse.
• Excess weight. Glucose that is not used to “nourish” the body is converted into fat by the liver and accumulates in fat cells.
• Risk of diabetes. Consumption of sugar, especially during mature age, increases the body's tolerance to glucose, which in turn leads to the fact that the pancreas cannot produce the required amount of insulin. Chronic insulin deficiency leads to the development diabetes mellitus.
• Sugar can cause atherosclerosis and heart attacks due to its ability to disrupt lipid metabolism and stimulate the production of insulin, which leads to increased production of cholesterol in the body.

Harm of sugar: Despite the fact that glucose is necessary for the body to function properly, sugar can disrupt this work, because we do not need it by itself. Our body is able to release glucose from the foods we consume daily: complex carbohydrates in the body are broken down by enzymes, releasing glucose. Sugar, in fact, is nothing more than a highly purified, easily digestible carbohydrate. Biological value it does not: it does not contain vitamins and microelements, but it does have calories (in 100 grams of sugar - 409.2 kcal), which are most often unnecessary.

Oleg Grishin, MD, PhD, Head. lab. respiratory physiology of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Research Institute of Physiology and Fundamental Medicine” of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (Novosibirsk), explains: “Glucose is bad because it quickly increases blood sugar, and this leads to increased production of the pancreatic hormone - insulin. When you are young and completely healthy, this is not too dangerous, but as you age it leads to increased glucose tolerance, and in a less than healthy body this can cause a pre-diabetic state. Fructose turns into fat more easily; moreover, it contributes to lipid metabolism disorders.”

How to use: moderately, understanding that we get glucose not only from sweets, but also from many other products: porridge, bakery products and much more. Oleg Grishin comments: “In principle, giving up sugar is a deception. It will still enter the body as part of certain products. In addition, sugar is a source of pleasure. And our body is cunning, it takes great care of its pleasures — mechanisms are activated at the subconscious level, giving the command to look for and eat sweets! Just like in the joke about the lady who went on a diet: she went into the kitchen, then everything was like a fog, she woke up with a pot of borscht. Sometimes people don't even think about the fact that they are eating sugar, they do it unconsciously. I mean that a person simply does not remember that he ate something sweet: even while driving “ food diary“, where you should write down everything you ate during the day - chocolates, a spoonful of sugar in tea or candy pass “past” our consciousness and do not end up in the diary! In addition, a lack of sugar—hypoglycemia—is more dangerous for the body than excess sugar. With hypoglycemia, headaches and weakness begin.”

What about those with a sweet tooth? You can partly reduce the amount of sugar consumed by using honey and dried fruits. But remember that in this case you will receive fructose, so you will still have to observe the measure, but at least the minerals and vitamins will be a bonus. But you shouldn’t rely on sugar substitutes. “Our body is a well-oiled mechanism,” explains Olga Krashennikova. — It’s difficult to deceive him, because he will respond to any of our dietary “tricks” by protecting himself. The sugar substitute first hits the taste buds, which transmit a signal to the brain about the arrival of something sweet, and it, in turn, “commands” the production of insulin to transport glucose to the cells. But sugar does not arrive, and its level in the blood drops. At the same time, the stomach waits, but does not receive the “promised” carbohydrates, because the sugar substitute really has zero calories. The body "remembers" stressful situation, and the next time, trying to deceive him, we provoke the release of glucose and, as a result, the production of insulin and the deposition of fat “just in case.”

For some salty food

Salt is a chemical compound, the crystalline form of sodium chloride (NaCl). Table salt, which is used for food, can be divided into two types according to the method of production. Rock salt (halite) is a mineral that formed in the earth's crust during the drying stage of ancient seas. Sea salt is extracted by evaporation sea ​​water, therefore it contains a large amount of mineral elements (iodine, phosphorus, iron, etc.). Despite the fact that there is now a lot of talk about the exceptional benefits of sea salt, the situation with it is similar to the story with cane sugar: the presence of additional microelements does not in any way affect the main component of salt—sodium chloride. Therefore, the same rules apply to the use of such salt as to the use of rock salt. What is more from an addiction to salt, benefit or harm?

Benefit: A person constantly needs salt - without it, all physiological processes of the body would stop, since NaCl is a key parameter of cell activity.

NaCl regulates the balance and distribution of fluids in the body, helping to maintain normal level pH is involved in muscle contraction and relaxation, as well as nerve stimulation. Na and Cl ions also play an important role in the secretion of hydrochloric acid in the stomach.

In addition, NaCl itself plays an important role in the process of intracellular and intercellular metabolism. It is involved in the formation of a nerve impulse, plays a role in the mechanism of short-term memory, affects the state of the muscular and cardiovascular systems, participates in the structure of bone and muscle tissue (thus, the inorganic part of the intercellular substance of bone tissue—the bone matrix—contains, among other things, salts Na). NaCl is also involved in oxygen transport and keeps other minerals dissolved in the blood, preventing blood clots.

Harm of salt: However, with healthy salt, as with sugar and many other things, the main thing is not to overdo it. Oleg Grishin explains the processes that occur in our body with excess salt: “Excess salt is perceived by the body as a violation of osmotic pressure. When there is a lot of salt, the kidneys begin to work to retain water in order to reduce the concentration of salt in the body. And water retention is an acceleration of blood circulation and, as a result, an increase in blood pressure. Young people begin to drink more and even out this balance. In older people and people prone to hypertension, the mechanism for equalizing salt concentration does not work so flawlessly — the volume of circulating blood does not decrease, but the pressure increases.”

Increased blood pressure with excess salt leads to a variety of heart and kidney diseases, stomach cancer and osteoporosis. In addition, salt retains water in the body and can cause swelling. And, for example, severe swelling of the eyelids can cause an increase in intraocular pressure and contribute to the development of cataracts.

How to use: Olga Krashennikova emphasizes that it is important to carefully monitor your diet: “On average, we consume 10-15 grams of salt per day. This is a lot—WHO recommends no more than 5 grams. That's half a teaspoon! At the same time, salt is contained in all ready-made food products: bread, cheese, sausage, canned food, which we love so much soy sauce. Some foods list the amount of sodium on the label. In principle, guided by this information, we can find out approximately how much salt a product contains: to do this, multiply the value on the label by 2.5 (the proportion of sodium in salt is 40%). I recommend that my patients think about their diet, for example: if we want to enjoy “potatoes and herring,” then it is important to remember that the potatoes were salted when boiled, and the herring was also pickled. This means that we have already received the recommended daily dose of salt.”

It is quite possible to compensate for the “under-salting” of foods, without losing, but also adding new flavor notes to your dishes: “I always under-salt food during the cooking process,” Olga Krashennikova shares her advice. — “There are such “flavor enhancers” as sour lingonberry jam — it goes perfectly with meat, and lemon juice — for fish. Aromatic herbs — for example, parsley, dill, cilantro — must be present on the table, and, believe me, you will not feel a lack of salt.”

It’s also not worth overdoing it with eliminating salt from your diet — sodium deficiency is also very dangerous for the body. Oleg Grishin clarifies: “All “communication” between cells is based on the fact that they need sodium chlorine molecules for this. That’s why “salt-free” diets that are so popular today disrupt the normal process of interaction between body cells. In addition, if there is not enough salt, then the body will begin to try to retain salt, which will cause the kidneys to suffer.”

Is there or is there not?

Of course, it is unlikely that you will be able to completely eliminate “harmful” sugar from your diet and strictly adhere to salt intake, and this is not required. Oleg Grishin warns against a categorical approach to the consumption of salt and sugar: “With the complete exclusion of sugar and salt from the diet, the body begins to experience stress, turning into distress — that is, long-term stress. Finding itself in such a critical, from a psychological point of view, situation, the body sooner or later begins to look for ways out of it. And this, as a rule, happens through the most accessible thing—through food. Chocolates, adding salt — in the end we get what we were trying to “escape” from. Everything should be in moderation: the body itself chooses this golden mean. Therefore, you need to listen to your body, watch it, monitor your body weight. Most The best way adequately assess the state of your body — exercise physical culture. Loads help you understand what shape you are in—your muscles, joints, breathing. If the situation has gone far, then it is better to seek help, therapeutic, psychotherapeutic.”

There is only one conclusion: the main thing is to know when to stop. After all, sugar in small quantities will not do much harm, and salt is absolutely necessary. In addition, there are smart ways to replace both salt and sugar — you just have to want to know about them.