Obesity is an ongoing pandemic the world over and the main causes are excessive calorie intake and sedentary lifestyle. But salt has received a lot of flak with regards to increase in weight gain. This has led people into pinning all the blame on salt for building up of extra fat in their body and going dangerously low on this essential mineral, but we would say please “don’t blame salt for what sugar did.” Unchecked sugar consumption is the leading cause of obesity the world over, and not salt. In fact, sugar helped you gain weight at all the wrong places, salt had very little role! Here’s what you need to hear – salt not only adds flavour to our food, it is essential to maintain the electrolyte balance in the body and therefore necessary to run all important functions smoothly. The normal range of sodium in blood is 135 to 145 mEq/L and when sodium falls below that level – it can lead to dizziness, vomiting, shock, and even coma. However, having said that, salt should be taken in moderation because too much salt can increase the risk of hypertension, kidney stones, dehydration, and heart disease. Also, with too much salt, the body tends to retain more water, resulting in bloating and water retention, and the numbers on the weighing scale go up. When the salt intake is cut back, the body releases water and that’s how the numbers drop – that’s just drop in water weight and no real fat burning. We would elaborate on whe...