In daily life, people often ask: Is too much salt harmful to the body? Is it necessary to limit salt for edema patients? What is the relationship between salt and kidney disease? First of all, a large amount of research evidence shows that salt is closely related to hypertension, and the incidence of hypertension increases if the dietary sodium chloride intake exceeds 50-100 mmol/d; for every 100 mmol/d increase in sodium intake, the systolic and diastolic blood pressure increases by 2.3 mmHg and 1.5 mmHg, respectively; therefore, salt restriction is listed as an important item in non-pharmacological treatment in various hypertension control guidelines. However, attention should be paid to the individual blood pressure. However, it should be noted that the sensitivity of blood pressure to salt intake varies among individuals. A significant increase in blood pressure caused by high salt intake is known as salt-sensitive hypertension, for which there are no uniform diagnostic criteria. This sensitivity of blood pressure to salt is partly related to genetic factors, but also to old age, obesity or diabetes mellitus, with a particularly strong relationship to renal function. In addition, salt, an important culprit in making the kidney burden worse, salt intake is associated with the progression of chronic kidney disease, and high salt intake promotes the deterioration of kidney damage. Specifically, clinical studies have directly confirmed that high salt leads to increased urinary protein excretion. Other studies have shown that low salt can reduce urinary protein excretion. Salt intake also affects the urinary protein-lowering effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs). High salt intake also leads to increased blood volume and higher blood pressure in dialysis patients. Therefore, controlling salt intake can play a role in promoting the prevention and treatment of chronic kidney disease. Regarding salt intake, specifically, for the prevention and treatment of hypertension, it is mostly recommended that daily sodium chloride intake should not exceed 100 mmol (5 to 6 g). The prevalence of hypertension in patients with chronic kidney disease is more than 50%, and salt-sensitive qualities are likely to exist, so for most patients, the daily salt intake should not exceed at least these standards. Both nephritis or nephrotic edema have sodium-water retention and both must limit water and salt intake. Mild and moderate edema, if there is no significant decrease in renal function, can be given a low salt diet, i.e., controlled at 2 g/day. Only in severe edema and significant decrease in glomerular filtration rate (<30 ml/min/1.73 m2), a salt-free diet is given. There are many types of salt on the market, including common salt and low sodium salt, etc. How should we choose salt in our daily life? How to really control salt intake? Salt, also known as table salt, is one of the most important substances for human survival, and is also the most commonly used seasoning in cooking. Currently, there is a widespread problem of excessive salt intake in China, with an average of more than 10 grams per day, with some provinces reaching 15 grams. China's food culture has a "southern sweet and northern salty", this diet is an important reason for the higher incidence of hypertension in the northern region than in the southern region. Since many people have difficulty changing their dietary habits, it is difficult to achieve results by simply limiting the amount of salt, but controlling the sodium in salt is a good solution. Low sodium salt, which replaces sodium chloride with 40% potassium chloride to reduce the sodium content, is suitable for people with diabetes, nephritis, gastritis, hypertensive patients and familial hypertension. There are some regions in the world where the population eats very low salt, such as the Indians in South America, who, for 60 or 70 years of their lives, hardly eat any salt or saturated fatty acids, eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, exercise regularly, and their blood pressure basically never rises with age and rarely die from major cardiovascular diseases. Can I eat low sodium salt more often? Some people say that low sodium salt reduces sodium intake and can be eaten more often, but the effects of low sodium salt in the population on a large scale and the other health problems it may cause have not been scientifically proven with certainty, and there is no definitive evidence of its suitability. To avoid the danger of excessive potassium intake, low sodium salt should be used with caution or consumed under the guidance of a physician in patients with renal failure, fever and cold in the acute phase of disease, acidosis, taking certain anti-cancer drugs, massive bleeding, before and after surgery and severe trauma. In cases such as long-term low blood pressure, diarrhea, sweating during high-intensity exercise, and hot summer days, the body should increase sodium intake, so low sodium salt should not be used. For the general public, the long-term use of low sodium salt is not very beneficial. This is because low sodium salt has a lower sodium content and a lighter taste, and people often need to add more low sodium salt when cooking to get the same taste as regular salt. The amount of low sodium salt consumed is increased, and the increased portion of sodium adds up to little difference from consuming regular salt, and the significance of choosing low sodium salt is lost. However, if people are willing to accept low sodium salt psychologically and control the amount they eat, it is not a bad idea. The question is, if you can strictly control the amount of low sodium salt you eat, why can't you control the amount of salt you eat in general? The use of low sodium salt does not matter if you are actively educated about health, if family members support, encourage and monitor each other, if you control the amount of salt you eat each day, and if you control the intake of processed foods and salty pickled products that contain sodium or salt. We recommend the following ways to help control salt intake: Correct the bad habit of adding too much salt and soy sauce due to excessive taste; take the total amount control method for daily salt intake, use measuring utensils and add dishes in the right amount for each meal; if dishes need to use soy sauce and sauces, the amount of salt should be reduced proportionally, for example, 20 ml of soy sauce contains 3 grams of salt and 10 grams of yellow sauce contains 1.5 grams of salt; you can put in cooking dishes with A little vinegar, both to improve the fresh flavor of dishes, but also help to adapt to less salt food; dishes with sugar will cover the salty taste, not only by tasting the taste of food to determine whether the salt is too much, but should use the measure to be accurate; reduce the intake of pickles, pickled foods and other salty foods. Must pay attention to the snacks in the "hidden salt" usually cooking soup, people know that less salt is healthier, for this reason, some families also special salt spoon to control the amount of salt. But people rarely notice the snacks "hidden salt", although the amount of salt is not large, long-term intake will bring many health risks. Many snacks that do not feel salty to eat, in fact, contain a lot of salt. Like the common potato chips, melon seeds, plums, peanuts and other snacks, in order to improve the taste, so that people feel more delicious, the production will add salt to taste, even desserts, ice cream, etc. also contains a lot of salt. Food with rich taste and variety of flavors basically contains a lot of flavoring agents, rich sweet, sour or spicy flavor, etc., will cover the salty taste, a lot of salt is hidden. Daily diet, sausages, luncheon meat, roast chicken and other cooked food, frozen food, canned food and instant noodles, etc., also contains higher salt than the general meal. In addition, MSG, ketchup, oyster sauce, sweet noodle sauce, etc., are also "salt-content". Therefore, we recommend that when eating snacks to pay attention to the salt content on the label, kidney disease patients should try to eat less of these snacks, if you eat salt snacks, must pay attention to reduce the amount of salt intake in meals.