Book Review: The Salt Fix by Dr. James DiNicoantonio

Dec 2

Introduction

I am not going to lie, I thought this book was a bit dry at times, with that being said, the information is rock solid. I am totally convinced that salt deficiency is a real thing, and that most people are suffering headaches and fatigue due to under-consumption of salt on a regular basis. DiNicoantonio goes through the science of salt (pretty similar to how Nina Teicholz went over the science of saturated fat in The Big Fat Surprise).

Big Sugar

Teicholz in The Big Fat Surprise talked about how essentially (I am summarizing here) the sugar industry lobbied and paid off some poeple to say that saturated fat was the main cause of metabolic disease, as opposed to sugar. We see the same exact story in this book.

The author goes over the science of salt and how even though the science essentially never even proved that salt helps with blood pressure, some influential scientists and groups lobbied for low salt guidelines. James highlights that there is almost no research showing that salt causes high blood pressure, and that if someone has high blood pressure that a low salt diet (like the DASH diet) can lower it.

Blood Pressure:

Having high blood pressure is obviously not very good for long term health, but how do you lower it? That’s probably what you are asking yourself after reading the previous paragraph. The answer lies in getting optimal metabolic health. In my opinion, fasting insulin is probably the best biomarker to test to see metabolic health. I think you would be hard pressed to find someone who has high blood pressure and a fasting insulin over 5 uIU/mL. There seems to be a direct correlation between being metabolically unhealthy and having high blood sugar, and salt is not part of that equation. When I was doing my masters, what we learned was the best thing for blood pressure control is weight loss, and I am inclined to agree with that, and so would the author I imagine.

Is Salt the Best Pre-Workout?

I remember when I was reading the Vertical Diet by Stan Efferding, he argued that all you needed was salt prior to your lift to get the best pump, and that it had to do with salt and not carbs. After reading this book I would agree with that sentiment. In terms of endurance training, the general recommendations in nice fall/spring weather is 1g of salt for a 1 hour workout, and 500mg for every hour after that, and that can be doubled if it’s hot outside.

Conclussion:

I never thought salt was bad, however it seems it’s beneficial, and if you do happen to over consume salt, you should just pee it all out, it only have upside and no down side according to the author- I think I would agree with that statement.

Amazon Link for The Salt Fix by Dr. James DiNicoantonio

Ethan Okunas