# Not enough - - Salt pills **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 7, 2021, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-enough-salt-pills/943788 "2021-06-07T20:33:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![HughGoply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hughgoply/32/7834_2.png) [@HughGoply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HughGoply)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-enough-salt-pills/943788/21 "2021-06-08T02:04:48Z")
> [@sjankis630](#): > > How many calories do you eat ? Do you know? Usually 2,100 to 2,300. Sometimes more if I decide to have a large steak. ---
**Author:** ![HughGoply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hughgoply/32/7834_2.png) [@HughGoply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HughGoply)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-enough-salt-pills/943788/22 "2021-06-08T02:05:42Z")
> [@sjankis630](#): > > Also the gallon of water definitely sounds like something someone would do on a diet to help satiate hunger. Not doing it to satiate hunger. I’m not trying to lose weight. ---
**Author:** ![HughGoply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hughgoply/32/7834_2.png) [@HughGoply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HughGoply)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-enough-salt-pills/943788/23 "2021-06-08T02:08:05Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I’d advise consulting a physician before supplementing, and getting blood sodium levels and kidney functions checked, at the very least, I’ll see when I can get into the doctor. ---
**Author:** ![HughGoply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hughgoply/32/7834_2.png) [@HughGoply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HughGoply)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-enough-salt-pills/943788/24 "2021-06-08T02:10:31Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > As noted above, the body is pretty efficient about conserving sodium, although if you are sweating or otherwise exerting one’s self it is certainly possible that supplementation is needed, although in such a case you’d expect a potassium deficiency (hypokalemia) first, and the effects from that are definitely observable I swim an hour workout three times a week and run interval another day or two. Fairly strenuous workouts. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-enough-salt-pills/943788/25 "2021-06-08T02:54:20Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Although sodium is used in a lot of processed foods as a preservative, and has been blamed for hypertension and heart disease, it is a necessary nutrient and also key in the preparation of many foods, even those of the unprocessed variety, and can be readily integrated into many cooked items without producing excessive flavor. In cooking scrambled eggs or an omelette, for instance, the addition of a pinch of salt a few minutes before cooking helps break down the proteins making the texture of the eggs more tender and ‘fluffy’, and does not noticeably alter the flavor. Adding an additional 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the diet is pretty trivial without resorting to “salt pills”, and frankly the salt is probably better absorbed and tolerated with food than in dissolving pill form. > > Stranger This is a really good point by the way, I don’t want to accuse OP of not knowing how to use salt, but it’s actually the case a large % of home cooks do not know how to properly salt and season food. Traditional culinary arts holds that your goal with salting is not to produce a “salty taste” to food, in fact that is a hallmark of oversalting, instead salting enhances the flavor and other properties of the food in many dishes, without producing a noticeably salty taste. But it is easy to oversalt foods, and it is likely you’ve been served oversalted foods many times in your life. But it actually takes a decently large amount of salt for most dishes to produce that strong “salty” flavor. Also specifically / deliberately oversalted foods like processed snack foods, are not a good representative of “proper” salting, those foods are specifically intended to have a powerful salty taste. But basic meat and vegetable dishes almost all benefit from salting, without needing to salt to the point of _tasting salty._ ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-enough-salt-pills/943788/26 "2021-06-08T07:55:02Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > without needing to salt to the point of _tasting salty._ However, when I came off the low-salt diet (which had been mostly incidental, not deliberate), I found that things like bread, which you might not consider ‘tastes salty’, did taste unattractively salty. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-enough-salt-pills/943788/27 "2021-06-08T12:15:43Z")
Right. I’m on a very low-sodium and low-potassium diet. Too many “normal” things (like most take-out) are too salty now. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-enough-salt-pills/943788/28 "2021-06-08T14:19:46Z")
I wouldn’t realistically compare take out food and factory produced bread to home cooked food in terms of seasoning. Most processed foods are significantly high in sodium for various reasons. It’s actually not easy to oversalt to that degree in your home cooking unless you drop tons of salt on top of something. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-enough-salt-pills/943788/29 "2021-06-09T18:44:14Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > It’s actually not easy to oversalt to that degree in your home cooking unless you drop tons of salt on top of something. Had roommate who put tons of salt on his food when he (rarely) cooked - kept complaining that there was no (presumably salt) taste to it otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-enough-salt-pills/943788/30 "2021-06-09T21:23:24Z")
Be aware that many low sodium processed foods are loaded with sugar. There is a need to control water activity in processed foods. The cheapest way is to use salt, salt is cheap. The salt will tie up the water activity so that any bacteria can’t use it. The water may still be there but it is unavailable to be used, hence the term ‘water activity.’ The alternative for salt is to use sugar instead. Sugar is many times more expensive but works about the same. So if you are monitoring either salt or sugar you should keep your eyes on the label. Low sodium food is usually loaded with sugar. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2021, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-enough-salt-pills/943788/31 "2021-06-10T03:42:03Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > So if you are monitoring either salt or sugar you should keep your eyes on the label. Low sodium food is usually loaded with sugar. Yes, and as someone who has to limit both salt and sugar, it’s one of the reasons why I eat mostly home-cooking. I was once in a restaurant in Amsterdam, and a middle-aged woman at the next table unscrewed the top of her salt shaker and poured salt over all her food. I don’t know what her problem was. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2021, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-enough-salt-pills/943788/32 "2021-06-10T03:52:40Z")
I’ve been told by multiple doctors to put more salt on my food due to my complaints about lightheadedness when rising. None of them have suggested taking salt pills though. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2021, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-enough-salt-pills/943788/33 "2021-06-10T04:00:39Z")
My blood pressure meds seem to inhibit my sodium absorption to the point that my doctor was doing monthly blood work and discussing changing my meds. She never once suggested salt pills. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2021, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-enough-salt-pills/943788/34 "2021-06-10T04:35:23Z")
We used to use salt pills back in the day, but they were always combination mineral salts – some potassium etc as well as sodium. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2021, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-enough-salt-pills/943788/35 "2021-06-10T04:40:48Z")
When I was in basic training in the '70’s, there were dispensers by the doors so you could grab a few salt pills on the way out the door. We needed them because…I’m not sure, probably because we sweated so much. They were pink and a little bigger than aspirin. What color were yours? ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2021, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-enough-salt-pills/943788/36 "2021-06-10T05:27:53Z")
> [@JaneDoe42](#): > > What color were yours? Probably the same thing, but no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2021, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-enough-salt-pills/943788/37 "2021-06-10T12:14:14Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > Be aware that many low sodium processed foods are loaded with sugar. Good general advice. However, the OP did state he ate “no processed foods”. If that is literally true then added sugars should not be an issue. If you are willing to cook from scratch it really IS possible to have foods that are both low sodium and low sugar. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-enough-salt-pills/943788.md?page=1)