Exercise and sodium
Simple question – if you exercise more, can you consume more sodium? Everyone knows that exercise burns calories, but does it also get sodium out of your body in sufficient quantity through sweat to count for anything?
I looked up the RDA for sodium and they say ‘less than 2300 mg’ which is tough, so I am wondering if my daily 5 mile jog allows me to bump that up some.
Yes, your body does lose sodium throguh sweat, however, I don’t know how much.
But my personal take on the RDA recomended value for sodium? BS. Here’s why:
As long as you do not already have a condition where high amounts of sodium are bad (high blood pressure or renal problems) then you can comsume all the damn salt you want (well, ok, not ALL you want) as long as you drink enough water. If your kidneys are working fine, they will just filter it out, that’s what they’re there for. If you don’t drink enough water with the extra sodium, though, that’s a problem, because eventually, if you continue to comsume more sodium but not water, your body will retain the water to keep the osmotic balance. Since you are retaining water, your kidneys can’t get rid of nearly as much sodium. So the amount of sodium will continue to rise and osmotic pressures will get out of whack and your cells will burst…or implode…or just shrivel up and die, I can’t remember which. 
But, like I said, drink enough water, and you can eat well more than 2.3g of sodium. At least, that’s MY theory. And clearly I know more than trained professionals. 
Coem to think of it, I’m not at all certain that anyone actually tested or studied the proposition that salt intake is bad for you.
Well, in healthy individuals, this study shows that increased sodium intake doesn’t have a high correlation with an increased blood pressure.
I agree with the above assessments. Sodium intake can be managed as long as you drink plenty of water. Personally, unless you have a condition, I would err towards an abundance of sodium, especially if you do a lot of sweating.
Depends on what you mean by professional If you mean a trainer or a the like (some nutritionalists), you could be right. The field is so full of myths, and outdated ideas it is amazing their isn’t seperate fields. Many trainers and dieticians just repeat what they are taught, don’t keep up in the field, don’t look to the new studies and theories that the people with PhDs are researching. They are out of touch with the reality, and generally don’t know as much as those that keep on top of the news.
At least that is my experience. I have had nutritionalists tell me that eating Eggs are bad for me, and a myriad of other things that have not really been proven, and some that have been disproven.
You will lose sodium if you sweat, but you have to sweat a huge amount before you need to start taking extra salt. Your body has a fair amount of sodium to draw on, and a modern diet will contain more than enough.
You’re more likely to run out of potassium first, as characterised by muscle fatigues and cramps. An isotonic drink, a handful of nuts, a papaya or a couple of bananas should see you right.
There is also a fairly significant variation in how people react to sodium. For example, one variant of the angiotensin converting enzyme, causes one to be very susceptible to salt intake causing hypertension. The gene that causes this variant is quite common in African populations, and rather rare in other groups.
Not to mention the fact that, at least here in the U.S., the designation of “nutritionist” carries no real meaning.
ANYBODY can call himself or herself a “nutritionist.” There is no regulation of this particular “field.” The only food-intake-related title that has any kind of real weight is “registered dietician,” since it’s the only title of that sort that requires governmental licensing.
anyone have anykind of site for this opinion that “if you drink enough water you can eat as much salt as you like?”
I saw a government-sponsored ad on UK telly yesterday, urging us all to cut down on out salt intake. Keep it below 6g a day, we’re told.
Well, there isn’t likely to be one, as it really isn’t quite true. Blanket statements are never wholely correct, as there are always exceptions. As mentioned above, there are those that have problems with sodium and blood pressure. But like my cite said, in normal healthy people there is no correlation. That doesn’t mean you should eat a pound of salt a day as long as you drink enough water. Is it going to matter if you eat 6 grams? Probably not- provided you drink plenty of water. If by “eat as much as you mean” you actually mean “eat more than the RDA,” Then yeah.
The cite is the simple statement about water being soluble, which is hardly necessary to provide a cite for, look up Sodium in wikipedia. The part about blood pressure? My cite seems sufficient.