My daughter was concerned when I mentioned I don't cook with salt, or add it to my food. And since I don't eat prepared foods (tinned soup, that sort of thing) it may be that I don't eat any salt at all. I don't keep up with nutritional information because I like very simple stuff, mostly fruit veggies and eggs, a little meat and fish, bread.

So I had never heard that not enough salt is bad. I don't want to bother my dr. with this, he's busy taking care of sick people.

Does anyone know?

p.s. Just checked my favorite commercially-made bread ingredients: organic whole sprouted wheat, organic whole sprouted rye, organic whole apples, vital wheat gluten, water, yeast, salt . I eat two or three slices a day, always the same brand.

Sodium appears naturally in many foods, so I wouldn't worry abut any perceived lack of it. However, iodine is a necessary nutrient, and you should check to see if you are getting enough of that.

Below from Wikipdia:

Sodium

Sodium ions (often referred to as just "sodium") are necessary for regulation of blood and body fluids, transmission of nerve impulses, heart activity, and certain metabolic functions. Interestingly, although sodium is needed by animals, which maintain a high blood sodium concentration and extracellular fluid sodium concentration, the ion is not needed by plants, and is generally phytotoxic. A completely plant-based diet, therefore, will be very low in sodium. This requires some herbivores to obtain their sodium from salt licks and other mineral sources. The animal need for sodium is probably the reason for the highly-conserved ability to taste the sodium ion as "salty." Receptors for the pure salty taste respond best to sodium, otherwise only to a few other small monovalent cations (Li+, NH4+, and somewhat to K+). Calcium ion (Ca2+) also tastes salty and sometimes bitter to some people but like potassium, can trigger other tastes.

Sodium ions play a diverse and important role in many physiological processes. Excitable animal cells, for example, rely on the entry of Na+ to cause a depolarization. An example of this is signal transduction in the human central nervous system, which depends on sodium ion motion across the nerve cell membrane, in all nerves.

Some potent neurotoxins, such as batrachotoxin, increase the sodium ion permeability of the cell membranes in nerves and muscles, causing a massive and irreversible depolarization of the membranes, with potentially fatal consequences. However, drugs with smaller effects on sodium ion motion in nerves may have diverse pharmacological effects which range from anti-depressant to anti-seizure actions.

Sodium is the primary cation (positive ion) in extracellular fluids in animals and humans. These fluids, such as blood plasma and extracellular fluids in other tissues, bathe cells and carry out transport functions for nutrients and wastes. Sodium is also the principal cation in seawater, although the concentration there is about 3.8 times what it is normally in extracellular body fluids.

Although the system for maintaining optimal salt and water balance in the body is a complex one, one of the primary ways in which the human body keeps track of loss of body water is that osmoreceptors in the hypothalamus sense a balance of sodium and water concentration in extracellular fluids. Relative loss of body water will cause sodium concentration to rise higher than normal, a condition known as hypernatremia. This ordinarily results in thirst. Conversely, an excess of body water caused by drinking will result in too little sodium in the blood (hyponatremia), a condition which is again sensed by the hypothalamus, causing a decrease in vasopressin hormone secretion from the posterior pituitary, and a consequent loss of water in the urine, which acts to restore blood sodium concentrations to normal.

Severely dehydrated persons, such as people rescued from ocean or desert survival situations, usually have very high blood sodium concentrations. These must be very carefully and slowly returned to normal, since too-rapid correction of hypernatremia may result in brain damage from cellular swelling, as water moves suddenly into cells with high osmolar content.

Because the hypothalamus/osmoreceptor system ordinarily works well to cause drinking or urination to restore the body's sodium concentrations to normal, this system can be used in medical treatment to regulate the body's total fluid content, by first controlling the body's sodium content. Thus, when a powerful diuretic drug is given which causes the kidneys to excrete sodium, the effect is accompanied by an excretion of body water (water loss accompanies sodium loss). This happens because the kidney is unable to efficiently retain water while excreting large amounts of sodium. In addition, after sodium excretion, the osmoreceptor system may sense lowered sodium concentration in the blood and then direct compensatory urinary water loss in order to correct the hyponatremic (low blood sodium) state.

In humans, a high-salt intake was demonstrated to attenuate nitric oxide production. Nitric oxide (NO) contributes to vessel homeostasis by inhibiting vascular smooth muscle contraction and growth, platelet aggregation, and leukocyte adhesion to the endothelium [

The most common sodium salt, sodium chloride (table salt), is used for seasoning (for example the English word "salad" refers to salt) and warm-climate food preservation, such as pickling and making jerky (the high osmotic content of salt inhibits bacterial and fungal growth). The human requirement for sodium in the diet is about 500 mg per day,[14] which is typically less than a tenth as much as many diets "seasoned to taste." Most people consume far more sodium than is physiologically needed. For certain people with salt-sensitive blood pressure, this extra intake may cause a negative effect on health.



Iodine

The United States Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) is 150 micrograms per day (μg/day) for both men and women, with a Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) for adults is 1,100 μg/day (1.1 mg/day).[6] The tolerable upper limit was assessed by analyzing the effect of supplementation on thyroid-stimulating hormone.[5]

Natural sources of iodine include sea life, such as kelp and certain seafood, as well as plants grown on iodine-rich soil.[7][8] Iodized salt is fortified with iodine.[8]

As of 2000, the median intake of iodine from food in the United States was 240 to 300 μg/day for men and 190 to 210 μg/day for women.[6] In Japan, consumption is much higher due to the frequent consumption of seaweed or kombu kelp. Estimates range from 5,280 to 13,800 μg/day.[5] Although some Chinese data associates excess iodine with autoimmune thyroiditis and hypothyroidism, these effects have not been observed in Japanese populations, and a protective effect on breast cancer has been hypothesized.[5]

Wow, comprehensive answer! Thank you.

Half a gram is only .2 ounces, which is less than what we call a 'pinch'. I was thinking of changing to oatmeal for breakfast anyhow, so now I will put a small pinch of salt in the bowl.

But I think I might get an iodine supplement. I just gave away a whole package of kelp to a friend who has a cat with a thyroid deficiency! It wasn't really generous of me, I don't like kelp and wasn't using it much. But now, like it or not, down it goes!