The UK Government guidelines suggest that eating too much salt can cause raised blood pressure or increase the risk of heart disease. 

The US government echos this and recommends only 1500mg per day. 

But let’s unpack this information. The sad fact is most Americans and almost as many Brits have awful diets. These diets consist of fast food, processed food and sugary drinks. Alongside this, most Americans and Brits do not get enough exercise, do not move enough, do not sweat enough (except on a chilli burrito) and have a host of health problems related to an unhealthy lifestyle. 

Salt Supplements are not for people that do not exercise, overeat salt and generally live an unhealthy lifestyle. These people need to make other changes to their lifestyles. 

Salt gets a bad rep

To understand why salt has had such a bad rep, you have to understand how governments work. They push out information for the lowest common denominator. If lots of people are clearly eating too many calories, they push out guidance for them. If people are spending too little time exercising, they use nudge theory to suggest an amount of time that isn't too scary. If people are eating loads of salt… yup you guessed it, they push out basic guidelines that are applicable to the unhealthy. 

So who is Salt for?

Salt is designed for people that push their bodies hard, whether in the gym, on the road, bike, mat or anywhere else. If you exercise for over an hour doing something that makes you sweat, if you want to maximise your performance, if you want to be able to train harder for longer then Salt is for you.  

Why do you need Salt?

When you sweat, your body loses electrolytes; sodium, potassium and magnesium, plus a few other elements like calcium. Maintaining the right levels of these enables you to keep performing. It prevents cramps, keeps the muscles firing, and it maintains your hydration levels.

Replacing electrolytes during prolonged exercise is important. Without the right levels, your body cannot perform and in really bad cases, if you continue to push yourself, your body will not process enough water leading to the kidneys shutting down. In some situations such as very long events in heat, you will even want to preload with electrolytes to give you an even bigger store to dig into. If this applies to you, check out our salt loading guide.

Replacing electrolytes after exercise is also important. In many situations, this can just be done with a healthy balanced diet. The exceptions to this are; if the exercise was truly extreme and you did not manage to consume enough salts before or during the event or if you need to train or compete again quite quickly. Double training sessions are common amongst athletes but are becoming more common with people that would not consider themselves athletes. 

Wrap up

In summary, salt can be bad if you have more than you need. It is also bad for you if you don’t get enough. The key as with so much in life is balance (and in this case, of your electrolytes)

If you think you may benefit from taking Salt to help your sports performance why not make sure it is the tastiest available. Order your Salt electrolytes here!