Family Encyclopedia >> Sports

Does salt make you fat?

We imagine that salt makes you fat, it is a received idea. Salt is indeed only a mineral, composed of sodium, thus playing a role of mineral salt in the acid-base balance and in cellular hydration. It also has metabolic functions, including muscle contraction and hormonal glands. Its excess, like its deficiency, is harmful.

So where does this idea come from? If salt does not make you fat, it does make you swell. It indeed facilitates the famous "water retention", which gives us the impression of having put on weight... However, on the scale, this water retention corresponds neither to fat nor to muscle, this n is that the weight of an edema. And you just have to eat less salt to rebalance everything. For that, it is above all necessary to track down the salt hidden in ready-made industrial dishes, which contain a lot of it!

The WHO advises in this regard not to exceed the dose of 5 g per day. However, in France, women consume an average of 6.7 grams. The technique then is to eat as few prepared meals as possible (pizzas, crisps, pastries, cheeses, cold meats, preserves, etc.), and to season our fresh products with more spices and herbs (turmeric, curry, pepper, parsley, thyme…). Not so hard, right?

To read:The 100 received ideas that prevent you from feeling well, DR Alexandra Dalu.