loeve,

Do you mean the Yanomami Indians? [www.crystalinks.com]

To this day they live a basically paleo existence. Their life expectancy is probably determined partly by violence. I don't know about comparing such a subsistence diet to ours--is it at all relevant?

There are various spellings and purhaps various tribes with similar names?

"Sodium and chloride are required to maintain extracellular volume and plamsa osmolality. Human populations have demonstrated the capacity to survive at extremes of sodium intake from less than 0.2 g (10 mmol)/day of sodium in the Yanomamo Indians of Brazil to over 10.3 g (450 mmol)/day in Northern Japan. The ability to survive at extremely low levels of sodium intake reflects the capacity of the normal human body to conserve sodium by markedly reducing losses of sodium in the urine and sweat. Under conditions of maximal adaptation and without sweating, the minimal amount of sodium required to replace losses is estimated to be no more than 0.18 g (8 mmol)/day. Still, it is unlikely that a diet providing this level of sodium intake is sufficient to meet dietary requirements for other nutrients."

[www.nap.edu]

If someone views salt as "toxic" and reduces use to zero, then they *may* be getting comparable levels of chloride and sodium as the Yanomamo (another spelling) Indians of Brazil, IMO; chloride and sodium essential nutrients and bioavailable as salt (sea salt if preferred). The Yanomamo Indians are sometimes used in the Raw movement as an example of humans who live without salt, though their life expectancy is seldom mentioned, and has some relevance for those interested in optimum health. The Dietary Reference Intakes chapter linked above talks about the associated risk of death from all causes, as I recall.

I probably get about 1000mg of sodium a day, quite a bit less than most reference intakes.

loeve,

I am surprised to hear that raw foodists would ever use the Yanomamo as an case example because their diet is contrary to the raw vegan one--they subsist on animal tissue from fish, reptiles, and monkeys[shudder], or subsistence tuber and plant farming. They must derive sufficient sodium from these limited resources enough to persist, but is that the same thing as thriving? Anthropologically interesting, I guess . . .

Here is an interesting site on "The Role of Elements in Life Processes"
[www.mii.org]

And here is a link to that sites periodic table. It's interactive, click in a element and get the description.
[www.mii.org]

Im quite a fan of unrefined salts such as himalayan, celtic grey sea salt etc. They have the balancing 80+ trace elements which give them alot of benefits from blood pressure stablization, adrenal health, natural anti-histamine and much more.

alternatively you could use kelp or seaweeds if you dont want to go the salt route, these contain similar amounts of trace elements and are high in naturally occuring sodium.

"However, having absolutely NO salt, EVER, can apparently be dangerous."

Uhm, not true.

Sodium is essential. Salt is not.

Salt (NaCl) is sodium, chloride and in many parts of the world has iodine added. Going without might be fine for the young and healthy living ouside goiter belts who don't go from average salt intake to zero overnight upsetting their body chemistry, and who don't have a stressful life, maybe.


"But salt has a very weak chemical bond and it is broken down rapidly in the body. Sodium and chloride are necessary for life. If your body does not have enough, problems occur."

Yes, salt dissolves readily into its ions Na+ and Cl- in H2O--

[www.chem.iastate.edu]

sodium is required for many body functions, it has been proven that the heart works harder on low/no sodium diets.

you can get your recommended sodium intake elsewhere such as celery if you eat alot, kelp/seaweeds etc.

"Sodium and chloride are required to maintain extracellular volume and plamsa osmolality. Human populations have demonstrated the capacity to survive at extremes of sodium intake from less than (200mg)/day of sodium in the Yanomamo Indians of Brazil to over (10,300mg)/day in Northern Japan."

There are people who live without processed ***salt(NaCl)***, like the Yanomamo Indians of Brazil, I believe, though not entirely sure. None live without *sodium*, an essential mineral. I heard of one poster getting 36 mg/day of *sodium*, which is a miniscule amount and not something to attempt for many days straight, in my opinion, the body not having an efficient long term storage mechanism for sodium.

Please note that "salt" and "sodium" are different substances, NaCl versus Na+.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2010 07:10PM by loeve.