Jorge CruiseFounder & CEO, Zero Hunger Water · Founder & CEO | Zero Hunger Water — Science-backed appetite control | 13× NYT Bestselling Author

Discover more about the power of sodium

21 Apr 2022 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

1:57

In this short YouTube segment, the hosts discuss the historical role of salt in human diets, noting that ancient Romans consumed about 25 g of salt daily and 19th‑century Europeans up to 50 g, with military rations providing 18–20 g per day—far more than modern recommendations. They argue that the recent 70‑year shift toward demonizing salt overlooks its essential mineral function and its historical use for food preservation. The conversation then pivots to caffeine, explaining that coffee is a major sodium depleter: two cups of coffee can cause an extra loss of roughly 600 mg of sodium, and four cups about 1,200 mg (≈½ teaspoon of salt). The physiological basis is described as caffeine‑induced diuresis that reduces sodium and chloride reabsorption in the proximal tubule of the kidneys. The speakers critique current low‑salt guidelines for ignoring the impact of common caffeinated beverages and physical activity on sodium balance.

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from a historical perspective, if you think of Romans used to consume on average 25 grams of salt, and even in the 1800s, salt consumption was upwards of 50 grams in many European countries. And even a lot of the army rations understood that most soldiers needed 18 to 20 grams of salt. So this is 2 to 3 times what we typically consume in a day was actually thought to be important back a couple hundred years ago, before we invented the refrigerator. We use salt to preserve our food. Now what's basically happened in the last 70 years is that we just simply de— now demonize salt. We, we've been told this toxic poison instead of this essential mineral. And what's interesting, what you said, we all think about caffeine, coffee. We didn't used to consume that hundreds of years ago, but that is one of the biggest depleters of salt is coffee caffeine. And when they were making all these recommendations to consume a low amount of salt, they never took exercise into account, nor did they take the fact that caffeinated teas and coffees are some of the most commonly consumed beverages, which deplete our bodies of salt.
So it does the opposite. It actually, what would you call it? Like leaches sodium from our bodies. And why briefly, why is that? So if someone's nah, that's just a bunch of chemistry, but it's honestly one cup of coffee, it removes how much water would you say? Something people can relate to. Sure.
So on average, I'll, I'll just go over some of the salt studies that looked at caffeine, but essentially 2 cups of coffee will cause you to lose 600 milligrams of sodium extra compared to placebo or just drinking water. And if you consume 4 cups, you lose half a teaspoon of salt or 1,200 milligrams of sodium. And so that's why coffee is a diuretic. That's why you lose water is because it flushes out sodium and chloride. It prevents the reabsorption of sodium in the proximal tubule of the kidneys.