Health benefits merry-go-round - Is too little salt bad for you?

In the 1960s, Britain was famously exhorted to go to work on an egg. Within a few years, however, its people were being told eating eggs was bad for them. Yet, in more recent times, the humble boiled egg has again been rehabilitated. After that, butter was in the firing line and researchers claimed too much was bad for your cholesterol. But before long, butter too was declared to be good for you.

The litany goes on. For instance, the modest spud, still very much a staple of the Irish diet, became a target of medical science. The burning question was whether it was good, bad or fattening. Then it was the turn of red wine and chocolate, both deemed good for the heart. Then the inevitable doubts arose over their much-vaunted health benefits.

In the latest turn of this exasperating good-for-you, bad-for-you merry-go-round, researchers claim too little salt can damage your health just as too much can be bad for you. According to international scientists, including Martin O’Donnell of NUI Galway, today’s recommended maximum salt intake is too low and possibly unsafe. The jury is out on this.