Rationale
We hear it over and over again, “Your kids will imitate you!” I think why does this phrase matter? It matters because we teach by example and a child will learn by observing. For example, if we are modeling good eating habits, our children will see us using and consuming less salt and in turn, so will they. Providing young people the proper information they need to know about salt and teaching them how to make healthy choices is a major step to reducing cardiovascular diseases and many other chronic illnesses later in life. Therefore, it is pivotal to know about the harmful effects of a high-sodium diet.
In the past several decades, an epidemiologic study reported chronic diseases are on the rise among the Native American population. According to the broad studies, the Diné community is facing increasing numbers of individuals with diabetes, high blood pressure or hypertension, and other cardiovascular diseases.1
I want to inform my fifth grade students of these health risks, diabetes mellitus type 2 and/or slightly high blood pressure (hypertension) that are trending among adolescents because it can affect the school population and my class. As a Diné educator, I can make an impact by teaching, modeling, and encouraging healthy eating habits with the importance of a daily exercise regimen, and emphasizing less sodium in the hope that healthy kids mature into healthy adults.
The Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, New Mexico State University, reports health problems in the Navajo Nation with the population at a greater risk for developing diseases such as cardiovascular disease.2
This disease was very rare in the 1940’s among the Navajos, who are the largest Indigenous tribe in the U.S. After World War II, there was a time of growth for the U.S. while there was a land reduction on the Navajo Reservation. The ways of traditional food of Native American were impacted. Most Native Americans became dependent on commercially processed food from programs like the Commodity Food Program. The federal government may have provided generously to prevent starvation to fulfill an agreement from the Treaty of 1864. Factors such as low income, poor diet, and limited physical exercise are impacting their quality of life. In addition, the poor access to nutritious foods and the departure from traditional diets are associated with health problems, especially type 2 diabetes and obesity. Diabetes, along with obesity, are major concerns because of their increased occurrence among Navajo youth. Since 1996, there has been a fifty four percent increase in the diagnosis of Native American youth ages 15-19 for Type 2 Diabetes, a disease usually associated with adults. However, it is becoming a significant threat in Native American children and youth. Currently one of the Native American Tribes, the Pima, has the highest rate of diabetes in the world. On average, Native Americans’ risk of developing diabetes is 2.6 times more likely than non-Hispanic whites of similar age. Data also show 22.9 percent of Navajo adults 20 years of age and older are diabetics.3
There is also a strong link between diabetes and heart disease. Increased blood sugar is linked to hypertension, dyslipidemia, and obesity. For this research paper, my focus is on hypertension and the importance of being aware of sodium consumption in the form of salt.4
This unit will fit into a two-week lesson with the activities aligned with Arizona College and Career Ready Standards – Science. The unit is built around strong content knowledge and integrating Physical Science and Health Education. The model for science integration provides an understanding of science concepts and principles linked to real life situations, along with activities applying an inquiry approach and making teaching interactive – teaching students the process of observing, predicting, investigating, and explaining, comparing and contrasting, measuring, formulating hypotheses, controlling variables, experimenting, gathering and interpreting results.
What is salt?
Chemical Composition
In chemistry, salt is defined as an ionic compound forming from a reaction of acid and base or alkali that neutralizes the acid. In the solid form, salts have a neutral charge. Sodium chloride forms from ionic bonding of sodium and chlorine ions. Eboch describes the table salt as one sodium cation (Na+) for every chloride anion (Cl-). Therefore, the chemical formula of NaCl is formed.5 In 1807, Sir Humphrey Davy took apart salt and revealed sodium and chlorine. Manufacturing industries thrive on the raw material. Not only were sodium and chlorine important, NaCl was the compound that was commercially made into hydrochloric acid, chlorinated hydrocarbons and bleaching powder. Other important sodium compounds include sodium carbonate, sodium sulphate, baking soda, sodium phosphate and sodium hydroxide. For gastronomical delights, potassium chloride is a salt substitute and potassium iodine is a choice for iodine in the diet. Sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite are used for curing meat.6 In addition to the sodium chloride, much of the table salt found in homes today is "Iodized Salt*", which means that it usually contains Potassium Iodine at a concentration of 0.006%. A quarter teaspoon of salt (1.5 grams) provides 67 micrograms of iodine, which is about half of the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance for iodine. For your thyroid gland to function properly, your diet needs to include iodine. The thyroid gland produces two hormones (thyroxine and triiodothyronine) that your body uses during metabolism. Without these hormones people feel tired, depressed, cold, weak, etc. Iodine is an important element in these two hormones, so without iodine your thyroid gland cannot produce them. When starved for iodine, the thyroid gland also swells, and when it does it is called goiter.7
Where does salt come from?
Salt occurs naturally in the Earth and is retrieved mainly from shallow bodies of sea, mineral water, and from mining operations. The way salt is harvested depends on where it is coming from as well as how it will be used. Solution mining, deep shaft mining, and solar evaporation are three ways of getting salt. Solution mining is the way most industrial and table salt is produced. In this process, water is injected into large salt deposits found near the Earth’s surface. Companies then pump out the brine, salt water solution, and then send it to be dried at another location. Deep shaft mining is done by digging tunnels to get access to ancient sea beds. This is the primary source of rock salt. The last method is solar evaporation. The sun is used to dry up water revealing the beds of salt. This produces “sea salt”, commonly found in cooking and cosmetics.8
History of Salt Usage
Native Americans
In the wild, animals roamed the range of salt springs licking the salt they needed. Humans consumed wild game with a sufficient amount of salt in their diet. As their diets improved to mostly cultivated crops, their salt intake increased. The Native Americans followed animals to salt springs and eventually began their own salt supply. The Onondaga Tribe of New York and the Tunic of Louisiana were the first Native Americans observed to boil brine water from Saline. They flavored their food with salt, but no sign of salt being used to preserve meat or fish. Their technique was the drying method over slow fire pits for preserving meats.
Over many years, explorers crisscrossed the vast land, catching on to boiling seawater in small amounts to preserve meat. The colonists settling alongside the seawater used much the same process to make their salt. The military used indentured servants to make salt.9 Salt making soon spread across much of the eastern part of the United States, mainly along seawater and began monopolizing the production.10
Cross Culturally
Salt has been a primary part of many cultures across the world and its history. The popularity of salt in China dates back to 2700 B.C. Ancient Egyptians are known to have access to salt for curing meat and fish. Europeans had access to salt. In Central Africa, it was only available to the wealthy. Salt was an expensive production controlled from ancient times. Chinese and Egyptians were the earliest known to have methods of salt extraction. The earliest Egyptian record demonstrates salt supply used for various religious rituals other than food. China experimented with 40 different types of spices as their artwork. In time, China realized taxing salt was a revenue source. Soon salt became a method of trade and currency as it spread westward. Ancient Greece practiced trading slaves for salt. As history conveys, the salt root word goes back in time as “salary.” The Roman army was given an allowance in salt. The word “salad” also came from salt as Romans salted their leafy greens and vegetables. As the popularity of salt spread, this commodity became heavily taxed, and countries even went to war over it. It was so popular and valuable like gold, that there were even salt prospectors. At one time, the value of salt per ounce was equal to gold and the demands inspired black marketing, riots, and smuggling.11
Present Usage
Flavoring agent
Salt claims a significant role in extracting flavors and emphasizing the flavor. Of course, people have their own definition of taste. Salt does more than just season. In actuality, salt musters other flavors. Salt will increase texture and flavor in the food we are consuming. The taste, smell, and texture place unique characteristics in almost everything we consume. Salt makes food taste better. Your tongue is physically a detector for flavors thought to be an amazing organ that does what it does. The tiny white and pink bumps, naked to your eyes, are called papillae, hair-like receptors develop the taste buds. Taste cells connect to nerve cells, which signals the brain when taste receptors are stimulated to sense the flavor. Chemical compounds that produce bitter, sour, salty, sweet, and umami or savory, taste sensations are caused by binding of molecules to receptors on taste cells. The sensory cells perceive taste and smell by the tongue. This creates the flavor in food. The tongue contains different receptors. They are designed with a sophisticated network. The sense of taste can detect only molecules dissolved in water using saliva. Should flavoring be appetizing, it increases our saliva and gastric juices, making meals truly mouthwatering. Both smell and taste senses or other names, olfactory and gustatory can distinguish different substances because the tongue is capable of sensing bitter, sour, salty, sweet, and umami. In some way, the smell of odors detected by the sense of smell undeniably channel to olfactory receptors to distinguish smells of flavor causing us to vomit or nausea. Of course, this is the reason why our mouth and nose are associated. In reality, our sense of taste is dull. The tongue is more sensitive overall. It creates taste sensitivity for bitter stuff to protect us from poison. The sour taste comes from acidic food. Salty taste carved by our body for its nourishing for physical functioning is the core component of taste sensations. Sweet taste buds will obviously relish the taste.12
Simple reasons for adding salt
The salt’s job is to trigger flavor in bland recipes. Seasoning meat with salt is to hydrate it which helps it to hold water and spreads out the reasonable amounts of selected seasoning. Another method of tenderizing meat is hanging it at a controlled humidity for a certain amount of time and temperature, called aging. Some meat age quickly and others age slowly. Once it reaches its correct age, it will muster the flavor. When cooking pasta or potatoes, salt is added to increase the temperature of the water to the boiling point. The water will boil hotter, making the food cook faster. It is best to add salt to boiling water, then add pasta. Otherwise, you might experience an aftertaste.
Adding salt, acts as a natural antioxidant in the dough you make when making different types of bread. This will add taste by trigging the flavor and aroma in the flour. Salt becomes an important ingredient in the mix; it helps tighten the gluten structure and add strength to your dough; i.e., dough is not sticky. Further, it helps to maintain the structure that holds on to the carbon dioxide gas that formed during fermentation to support the volume. Salt also contributes to shelf life. Salt will prevent food from going stale too quickly. You can knead dough without salt, so gluten can develop faster. Dough will be smooth and elastic. This process will also allow for enzymes to do all the work of development.
Types-Sea Salt, Kosher Salt, Popcorn Salt
Salt can bring out all five tastes, salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and savory. Salt enhances flavor and can transform taste by its interaction with other food or drink. As an example, just a sprinkle of salt may make tea and coffee taste less bitter. Some people also put salt on watermelon to make it taste sweeter. Since ancient times, people used salt to preserve all different kinds of food, because there were no refrigerators.
Sea salt is commercially available to the market because it can be sold if it satisfies the FDA rules of its purity. Sea salt processed into table salt does contain an anti-caking extract to keep grains from sticking together. A limit of 2 percent is permitted for salt to contain additives such as calcium silicate. Other tasteless and odorless chemicals that contribute to anti-caking are the compounds - magnesium carbonate, calcium carbonate, calcium phosphates, and sodium aluminum silicates. The finer sea salts have interesting flavors of taste, smell, and texture. Sodium chloride, calcium, and magnesium sulfates do not have an odor because of low vapor pressures. Any type of sea salt ingested nasally in fine form does give a metallic sensation. The taste and texture detects the way they were harvested and processed. Sea salt comes in various shapes: flakes to pyramids, to clusters, to irregular, jagged fragments. The sizes range from fine to coarse. The bigger and flakier crystals of sea salt can bring an explosive flavor when added just right before serving. The admiring taste flavor is desired by chefs because of bursts of saltiness. The complex shape is what delivers the taste. The same cannot be said about table salt. In table salt, the salt dissolves once it lands on the tongue.13
Kosher salt is used as a koshering process, and works to remove blood from meat. Kosher salt is mined or collected from the sea. It must be coarse and irregular in form so it can stick to the surface of the meat during koshering. Because of its texture, it is best used by the pinch. Pinching enables for easy pick up with your fingers, and since the salt grains don't dissolve immediately, you can visually see where you've sprinkled it. Kosher salt has a tiny bit of additives for anti-caking including sodium ferrocyanide. It also contains 1/100th of 1 percent of iodized salt for iodine-deficiency disease goiter. Kosher salt is not very popular among chefs because it dissolves more quickly and evenly into baked goods.
Popcorn salt is very fine powdered particles for the purpose of sticking easily to the kernel. This process is difficult because salt does not stick to dry food. Normally they will easily flake off. Popcorn salt is expensive.14
Food Preservative
Salt perhaps aided as a preservative for food from the prehistoric times to just before refrigeration was available. Salting food prevents harmful organisms from getting water they need to survive and flourish. Field points out, “If the outside environment is saltier than the inside of an organism, the water diffuses out to dilute the salt. The organism dries out, even if there is lots of salty water outside.”15 Many disease organisms are unable to grow in the presence of salt. Taste is not the only reason for adding salt to food. It was the best methods for preventing the growth and survival of undesirable bacteria. Salt is effective as a preservative because of the “water activity” of foods. The water activity of a food is the amount of water available for microbial growth and chemical reactions. Through simple osmosis, salt, added to either solid or liquid food products draws available water from within the food interior and dehydrates it. This mechanism weakens the microbe’s enzyme and DNA activity to keep the cell from growing – the bacteria which can cause food poisoning.16
Hidden Salts (Processed foods)
Processed foods contain sodium for preservation and taste. If the food is highly treated, it will have a higher salt content. Some processed foods have elements added, like sweetener, oils, colors, and preservatives. It includes food that has been cooked, canned, frozen, packaged and changed in nutritional structure by fortifying, preserving or preparing in different ways.
Per the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the recommended upper limit for sodium consumption is 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day for adults. If African-American, age 51 or older or have high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic diseases, the consumption should be 1,500 milligrams per day. An average American consumption of sodium is close to 3,400 milligrams of sodium per day. That is 3.4 grams of salt or nearly 2 teaspoonfuls. Evidence confirms that ingesting too much sodium can increase blood pressure, which is a danger factor for stroke. Therefore, limiting your sodium consumption can benefit your well-being.17
The study also states that 77% of processed foods already contain excess salt. As I inventory 3 members of my family’s pantry, I found some processed foods with high sodium are as follows: 10.5 ounce of Campbell’s Vegetable beef soup containing 890 mg of sodium and a 37% of daily sodium recommended, 12 ounce SPAM 790 mg of sodium and 33% of daily sodium, 2.25 ounce Maruchan Instant Lunch Chicken Flavor Ramen Noodle Soup containing 1190 mg and 50% of daily serving of sodium, 6 ounce Gluten Free Rice Pasta & Cheddar Cheese Mix containing 460 mg of sodium and 20% of daily serving of sodium after preparation, 6.8 ounce of Rice Roni Beef Flavor with 730 and 34% of daily serving of sodium after preparation, 5.6 ounce Food Club Skill Classics Hamburger Beef Pasta sodium content of 540 mg and after prepared 26% of daily sodium servings, 32 ounces of Aunt Jemima Buttermilk Complete sodium content of 450 mg and 19% of daily serving of sodium, Nabisco Original topped with sea salt Premium Saltine Crackers 135 mg per 5 crackers, 16 fluid ounce Food Club Ranch dressing 260 mg and 11% daily value.
Clearly, I assume most people in my community would have similar processed foods loaded with sodium in their household. There are several possible explanations for this. Some of these food items have higher salt content because of their bland taste, perhaps due to a lack of freshness. My better explanation, maybe just having an addictive effect of high salt consumption. For example, a person consuming more salt in their diet will want more salt. In some cases, people who are told they have high chronic disease risk will reduce their sodium consumption for two or three months and in time their body will begin to crave salt. This will lead them to consume higher levels of sodium to satisfy their cravings. Lastly, our local grocery stores stock 90% of processed foods.
Health Benefits and Risks Associated with Salt
Salt as a Nutrient Source
As we know, salt, like water and air, is crucial to the well-being of our body. The sodium and chloride ions in salt regulate the nutrients needed for proper bodily functioning. Chloride is needed for proper growth and development of the brain and other neurological functions. Hydrochloric acid is required in preparing our digestive system. Chloride is necessary for proper functioning of our adrenal glands to release and control of over fifty hormones. Sodium ions help the body execute a number of simple tasks. Dr. Mercola states, “This includes maintaining the fluid in blood cells and helping the small intestine absorb nutrients. Sodium is necessary to activate enzymes in glial cells that provide for long-term planning or creativity.” Sodium improves our metabolism and regulates the digestion system. In general, additives are required to insure there is proper regulation and maintaining of the blood pressure.18
Sodium is needed for blood regulation and its absence can cause serious impairment of bodily function. The electrolyte regulates the bodily fluids and transmits electrical impulses in the body. Sodium plays a pivotal role in enzyme operations and muscle contraction. A pinch of salt sprinkled on the tongue may help improve an allergic reaction or an asthma attack. Your body needs salt to maintain the proper stomach pH. Salt lowers adrenaline spikes. Salt improves sleep quality. However, for some of us, eating too much sodium can raise our blood pressure, because sodium attracts water and the extra fluid increases the pressure on your blood vessels. If we are careful and eat only a little sodium, our body will not retain that extra water. Our blood pressure will stay in the normal range. Salt is made out of sodium and chloride. Sodium is the part of salt that affects blood pressure. In biological terms, the kidneys suffer trying to do extra work by keeping up with excess sodium in the blood stream. In addition, increased blood volume also makes the heart work harder and more pressure on the blood vessels, eventually leading to high blood pressure. High blood pressure is the leading cause of cardiovascular disease.19
People who are at high risk of developing health problems related to salt consumption are people age 50 and over, people who have high or slightly elevated blood pressure, people who have diabetes, and African Americans. As a member of the Navajo tribe, I am concerned about sodium because of the increase of diabetes and high blood pressure among the Navajo people. It is especially important because we are seeing these health conditions even in our young people.
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