A Scrutinization of Salt

Salt! It's the only rock we eat! That gets us into some touchy territory. Some say that salt is a major factor for high blood pressure, and some say that it's more complicated than that. We can't NOT eat salt, but in the grand scheme of things, are we eating more now than ever, or way less? Also, salt is so abundant, it's generally understood that we'll never be able to mine all of it. It's often found near oil, and can be brought from ground to storefront in many ways. Wars have been fought over salt, Gandhi protested the British salt monopoly by defiantly raising a bit of salt from a river bed, and during the U.S. Civil War, destroying Confederate salt mines was a technique used by the Union army to gain an advantage. What role does salt play in your life? Are you the type that can eat a ton of salt and still have low blood pressure? Or do you make an effort to keep your salt intake low? Does it make much of a difference? GUESTS:

• Mark Kurlansky is the author of “Salt: A World History”
• Dr. Morton Satin is the VP of Science & Research at the Salt Institute
• Dr. Samuel Mann is a Professor of Clinical Medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical College, he’s a specialist in hypertension, and the author of “Hypertension & You”

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• By CHION WOLF
• This release is republished with permission from wnpr.org.
• Photo credit Credit DaGoaty, Flickr Creative Commons