DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I love salt and salty foods. My wife says I am going to have high blood pressure because I eat so much salt. Will I? - F.M.
ANSWER: For health, people need one-tenth of a teaspoon of salt daily. In this part of the world, we get many times that amount without ever using a salt shaker, so salty is the food we eat.
A few unusual illnesses feature salt-craving. One of them is Addison's disease, where the adrenal glands go kaput and fail to make hormones that keep the body's salt level where it should be. I am not suggesting you have Addison's disease. It brings other, dramatic symptoms that would make you aware of it.
Not everyone is sensitive to the blood pressure rise that salt can generate. However, it would be a good idea to reduce the amount of salt you're getting. With age, blood pressure, even in the healthiest people, tends to rise, and your infatuation with salt puts you at greater risk for a blood pressure rise.
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