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Sodium Chloride

Table salt is a combination of two minerals - sodium and chloride Your body needs some sodium to work properly. It helps with the function of nerves and muscles. It also helps to keep the right balance of fluids in your body. Your kidneys control how much sodium is in your body. If you have too much and your kidneys can't get rid it, sodium builds up in your blood. This can lead to high blood pressure. High blood pressure can lead to other health problems.

Most people in the U.S. get more sodium in their diets than they need. A key to healthy eating is choosing foods low in sodium. The Dietary Guidelines recommend that most adults eat less than 2.3 grams per day. That equals about 1 teaspoon of table salt a day. Some people are more sensitive to the effects of salt than others and should eat less. This includes people who have high blood pressure, diabetes, or kidney problems, or are African American or over age 50. Reading food labels can help you see how much sodium is in prepared foods.

NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute


WARNING: All medicines, drugs, plants, chemicals or medicial precedures below are for historical reference only. Many of these treatments are now known to be harmful and possibly fatal. Do not consume any plant, chemical, drug or otherwise without first consulting a licensed physician that practices medine in the appropriate field.

Physician's Materia Medica on Sodium Chloride

POTASSIUM CHLORIDE
   Properties analagous to those of Sodium Chloride. For formulas see in Part II, Anticatarrhal remedies.1

SODIUM BICARBONATE (Baking Soda)
   Antacid, much used to correct acidity of the stomach and in treatment of rheumatism and lithiasis; is often of benefit in glycosuria. Locally applied it gives relief in burns and scalds and in acute articular rheumatism. Often advantageously combined with sodium chloride t‘o relieve distress in dyspepsia. Aids notably the action of calomel as a cholagogue. Dose as antacid, 0.60 to 2.0 Grm. (10 to 30 grs.).1

SODIUM CHLORIDE
   Sometimes used in doses of 8 to 15 Grm. (2 to 4 drachms) as an emetic; useful in small doses, 0.3 to 0.6 Grm. (5 to 10 grs.), combined with Sodium Bicarbonate to relieve gastric distress in dyspepsia; weak solutions (7:10,000) have a soothing effect on mucous membranes and on raw surfaces of wounds or ulcers.1


References

1) Nelson, Baker & Co., 1904, Physician's Handy Book of Materia Medica and Therapeustics, Detroit, Michigan.