Why Did We Start Consuming So Much Salt?

Dr. Carolyn Beans doesn’t over-sell it:

It was practical, at first

First, know this: humans and other animals need sodium chloride for essential biological functions, including triggering nerve cells to transmit messages and providing chloride for the hydrochloric acid in the stomach.

Once upon a time, hunter-gatherers obtained most of their salt by eating other animals because plants contain considerably less. However, when agriculture first flourished around 11,000 years ago, people began deliberately adding salt to food.

It’s important for food preservation as well as flavor: salt prevents spoilage by drawing water out of bacterial cells! It also masks bitterness and enhances sour, sweet, and umami flavors. Larger quantities can mask sweetness and increase umami, although the precise mechanisms remain unclear.

But by the turn of the 20th century, industrialization and newly discovered deposits dramatically increased production and reduced prices. In 1911, Morton Salt Company introduced magnesium carbonate to prevent salt from clumping in humid conditions.

And now? It’s a nigh-ubiquitous ingredient in ultra-processed foods, for both its preservative and flavor-enhancing properties, for better or for worse.

For more on all of this, enjoy:

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Take care!