# Should I completely eliminate salt from my diet?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-completely-eliminate-salt-from-my-diet/186028>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [July 3, 2003, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-completely-eliminate-salt-from-my-diet/186028 "2003-07-03T14:09:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-completely-eliminate-salt-from-my-diet/186028/21 "2003-07-13T04:08:29Z")

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I should point out that all salt that is iodized uses potassium iodide as the source. Thus you are already getting your potassium with your iodized salt.

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**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-completely-eliminate-salt-from-my-diet/186028/22 "2003-07-13T10:08:16Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by The Ryan \*  
> **I was surprised by the implied reasoning in the column: we need iodine, salt has iodine, therefore we need salt. I’d expect a better grasp on logic from Cecil.**

I don’t think that was his logic – I think that when he said eliminating salt completely would kill you, he was referring not to the problems of iodine deficiency, but to the whole hyponatremia issue.

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**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-completely-eliminate-salt-from-my-diet/186028/23 "2003-10-09T07:21:53Z")

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I can say since I was a little shaver my mother refused to let us salt our foods. She said “you get too much from the junk you eat already.” Here it is some 35 years later and I never salt anything and don’t even have salt in the house. I am fine.

Of course I still eat food that HAS salt in it. I just don’t add any of my own. I do also take one daily multivitamin.

Like I said it doesn’t seem to effect me.

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**Author:** ![Dr.Cobweb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Cobweb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Cobweb)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-completely-eliminate-salt-from-my-diet/186028/24 "2003-10-09T14:38:40Z")

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I don’t worry much about micro-crafting my diet according to the latest weekly health fads and ad campaigns for what’s good for you, or the conspiracy theories about evil companies/corporations/industries knowingly poisoning their customers for profit (which always seemed an odd way to run a business). I eat what I want, trying to stay somewhere in reach of common sense, and don’t spend time stressing over what the wonks and worry-warts have to say. It has long been an established medical fact that excessive health is invariably fatal anyway. [This article](http://pastimesandrags.com/writings/sarsaparilla.html) sums up my attitude fairly well.

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