3 ms·

I knew chinese food was salty by damn, 11g? Even on days when I consume waaaay to much salt (pigging out on smoked salmon, usually), I don’t generally get over

I knew chinese food was salty by damn, 11g? Even on days when I consume waaaay to much salt (pigging out on smoked salmon, usually), I don’t generally get over 6g, and I still feel like shit. How is it possible for such a large population to consume so much sodium? Is it genetic, do they have some special adaption for it?

moribvndvs 2y ago
I fucking love salt, and have the blood pressure to go with it. I’ve been more careful about it lately, but I decided to splurge a little tonight at a party, probably in the 3-4 range and I am absolutely whiteknuckling it right now. I almost passed out just thinking about 11g.
- TheNewsIsHere 2y ago
  My random Internet friend, have you spoken with a doctor about this?
powersnail 2y ago
In the part of China I come from, pretty much all common flavor profiles are predominantly salty. This means that people are having salty stir fries, salty stews, salty soups, etc. Sugar&vinegar exists, but a lot less common than salty ones, and even in sugar&vinegar, it's common to add at least a good pinch of salt. This is different from eating one really salty thing, like smoke salmon, where the saltiness is very pronounced. When salt is evenly distributed in every dish and meal, it's a lot less salient that you've consumed too much of it. It's a common experience when eating out, to not feel like I have had too much salt during the meal, but be very thirsty afterwards. (It's also why I dislike eating out back home, but sometimes it's inevitable)
- DiscourseFan 2y ago
  So you probably do feel like shit, but its constant rather than something that you notice all the sudden after eating way too much salty food, and your body has probably adjusted to the elevated sodium levels over time, so the side effects are diminished (but, according to this paper, still has a significant effect on your heart health). This is all telling me I should be options trading on biotech companies in China testing blood pressure medication!
  - powersnail 2y ago
    Feeling like shit is stretching it; it's just being thirstier than if I'm cooking myself. I'd say if we do feel like a shit, the local culture probably wouldn't have grown so salty. But health-wise, yeah, it would not be a good idea to eat out often. High blood pressure is a very, very salient health problem, on par with obesity in the public consciousness.
rendaw 2y ago
American Heart Association says Americans on average have 3500mg sodium which is ~9g salt. I'd guess that's mostly from snacks and side dishes, plus salt used in less-recognizable ways during food production? If you have an upper outlier of 6g I'd say you have a fairly rare diet.
- DiscourseFan 2y ago
  No, I made an error, since I didn't differentiate "salt" from sodium, of course since where I'm from sodium is generally what is labeled for daily intake and not chloride, even though the daily recommended is equimolar[0]. [0]https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7009052/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7009052/
- adrian_b 2y ago
  When you cook your own food, it is pretty normal to eat only 5 to 6 g of salt per day. Only when you buy food made industrially it becomes very unlikely to reach a so low daily intake of salt.
  - TheNewsIsHere 2y ago
    I’ve been prescribed medication for hypertension for years now. Thankfully the outcome has been a consistently well controlled and more-or-less normal range of blood pressure. My spouse has put in a lot of work to help me get to a point where I’m not actively avoiding added salt or sodium. Where once the DASH diet and 150/90 made me really scared to season a dish, now I don’t shy away from reaching for the salt, or borderline starve myself of sodium. The point that my spouse made was precisely yours: almost every meal we make is home made (and kudos to my spouse for being our de facto and a fantastic cook). I cannot imagine 10+ grams of salt a day.

moribvndvs 2y ago

I fucking love salt, and have the blood pressure to go with it. I’ve been more careful about it lately, but I decided to splurge a little tonight at a party, probably in the 3-4 range and I am absolutely whiteknuckling it right now. I almost passed out just thinking about 11g.

TheNewsIsHere 2y ago
My random Internet friend, have you spoken with a doctor about this?

powersnail 2y ago

In the part of China I come from, pretty much all common flavor profiles are predominantly salty. This means that people are having salty stir fries, salty stews, salty soups, etc. Sugar&vinegar exists, but a lot less common than salty ones, and even in sugar&vinegar, it's common to add at least a good pinch of salt. This is different from eating one really salty thing, like smoke salmon, where the saltiness is very pronounced. When salt is evenly distributed in every dish and meal, it's a lot less salient that you've consumed too much of it. It's a common experience when eating out, to not feel like I have had too much salt during the meal, but be very thirsty afterwards. (It's also why I dislike eating out back home, but sometimes it's inevitable)

DiscourseFan 2y ago
So you probably do feel like shit, but its constant rather than something that you notice all the sudden after eating way too much salty food, and your body has probably adjusted to the elevated sodium levels over time, so the side effects are diminished (but, according to this paper, still has a significant effect on your heart health). This is all telling me I should be options trading on biotech companies in China testing blood pressure medication!
- powersnail 2y ago
  Feeling like shit is stretching it; it's just being thirstier than if I'm cooking myself. I'd say if we do feel like a shit, the local culture probably wouldn't have grown so salty. But health-wise, yeah, it would not be a good idea to eat out often. High blood pressure is a very, very salient health problem, on par with obesity in the public consciousness.

rendaw 2y ago

American Heart Association says Americans on average have 3500mg sodium which is ~9g salt. I'd guess that's mostly from snacks and side dishes, plus salt used in less-recognizable ways during food production? If you have an upper outlier of 6g I'd say you have a fairly rare diet.

DiscourseFan 2y ago
No, I made an error, since I didn't differentiate "salt" from sodium, of course since where I'm from sodium is generally what is labeled for daily intake and not chloride, even though the daily recommended is equimolar[0]. [0]https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7009052/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7009052/
adrian_b 2y ago
When you cook your own food, it is pretty normal to eat only 5 to 6 g of salt per day. Only when you buy food made industrially it becomes very unlikely to reach a so low daily intake of salt.
- TheNewsIsHere 2y ago
  I’ve been prescribed medication for hypertension for years now. Thankfully the outcome has been a consistently well controlled and more-or-less normal range of blood pressure. My spouse has put in a lot of work to help me get to a point where I’m not actively avoiding added salt or sodium. Where once the DASH diet and 150/90 made me really scared to season a dish, now I don’t shy away from reaching for the salt, or borderline starve myself of sodium. The point that my spouse made was precisely yours: almost every meal we make is home made (and kudos to my spouse for being our de facto and a fantastic cook). I cannot imagine 10+ grams of salt a day.