Sodium is the most vital electrolyte in our body along with magnesium, chloride, and potassium. It acts as neurotransmitters and transports signals from the brain to different parts of the body. Sodium affects the water retention capacity in the human body. Sodium deficiency can cause several health conditions that may be fatal in long-term deficiency.
What is Sodium Deficiency?
Sodium deficiency is a health condition caused by the long-term inadequacy of sodium in the human body. It may be caused by inadequate intake of sodium-rich diet or presence of pre-existing health issues like GI disorders, renal failure, CVD, cirrhosis, and use of diuretics (1).
Functions of Sodium
Sodium plays a very important role in maintaining fluid balance and blood pressure. It also acts as an important electrolyte and responsible for transmitting signals from the brain to different parts of the body.
Causes of Sodium Deficiency
The condition of hyponatremia can be developed due to various factors. Some of the major cause has been illustrated below:
- Inadequate Diet: The most common cause of sodium deficiency across the globe is our eating habits. We often consume foods that are poor in nutrients such as sodium.
- Unavailability of Nutritious Food: Soil composition varies from place to place. Sodium deficient soil can’t produce sodium-rich grains, fruit, and vegetables.
- GI Disorders: Malabsorption of sodium due to several underlying health conditions affects the overall sodium balance in the body. Gastrointestinal disorders affect the ability of internal organs to absorb essential nutrients.
- Renal Failure: Kidneys are responsible for removing unwanted substances from our bodies. Improper renal may result in the removal of essential minerals from our body. The deficiency of sodium may affect cell structure and composition (1).
- Alcoholism: It affects the discharge capacity of the body. Excessive discharge may lead to salt deficiency in your body. In the case of chronic alcoholism, an individual will always be deficient in salt due to excessive discharge.
Symptoms of Sodium Deficiency
The common symptoms of sodium deficiency include:
- Nausea
- Vomiting,
- Sweating
- Headache
- Fatigue
- Drowsiness
- Confusion
- Water Retention in Body
- Muscle Weakness
- Muscle Cramps and spasm
- General Weakness
The symptoms of severe sodium deficiency:
- Cell Swelling
- Brain Swelling
- Seizures
Health Risks due to Hypomagnesemia
- Cardiovascular diseases: Hyponatremia affects the muscle tissues and also weakens them. Weakened heart tissues may result in premature heart diseases and even failure in extreme cases.
- Muscle Weakening: Low sodium level affects the cell which forms our muscle tissues. It causes swelling of the whole body and minimizes strength with time. It causes frequent muscle cramps and spasms than normal and affects the overall strength of the body.
- Brain Dysfunction: Sodium deficiency causes several brain dysfunctions. It occurs due to swelling of brain tissue and affects different parts of the body corresponding to the affected brain areas.
- Osmotic Demyelination: Osmotic demyelination is a severe case of brain dysfunction and is caused by prolonged disruption of oxygen supply to the brain. It results in a coma that can last for a very long duration.
- Seizures: Seizures are sudden electrical impulse in the brain, it affects movement, feelings, and the level of consciousness. It is caused by the presence of a low amount of electrolyte in our system.
Some other health risks associated with sodium deficiencies are hormonal imbalance, sleeping disorders, anxiety, depression, and prenatal complications.
Tests for Sodium Deficiency
Sodium is very abundant in our bodies. However, most of the content is found in cells and bone and a very small quantity of sodium is present in the blood. An electrolyte blood test is used to do sodium profiling in our body.
- Sodium Blood Test: There is no nay specific test for sodium in our system. A blood test used to determine the electrolyte balance in our body can be used as an initial test. Further, it can be analyzed by urine tests and imaging.
- Imaging: Severe sodium deficiency can lead to several changes in the brain which can only be identified with the available imaging techniques like CT scan and MRI. For better resolution, people should prefer contrast imaging.
If you have health conditions that may cause deficiency, doctors may advise for electrolyte, urine, and imaging in extreme cases.
Remedies of Sodium Deficiency
- Sodium Supplements: If you are diagnosed with severe sodium deficiency, you should consider medical supplements under the supervision of doctors. As higher sodium may lead to a deadly health condition.
- Sodium Rich Diet: Sodium-rich food items will help in minimizing sodium deficiency. Some of the sodium-rich food items are salt, canned and processed food, sunflower seed, clams, seafood.
- Fortified Food Items: Several agricultural lands across the globe are poor in micronutrients which will serve nutrient-deficient food produces. Fortified seeds will help in providing nutrient-rich agricultural produce.
- Vasopressin: It is also known as an antidiuretic hormone that regulates the amount of water in the body and controls the excretion of excess water by controlling the renal function
Prevention of Sodium Deficiency
It is often said that “Prevention is better than Cure” and indeed this is very much true about micronutrient deficiencies. Sodium deficiency can be prevented through the consumption of a sodium-rich diet.
Food items rich in sodium:
- Seafood
- Shrimp
- Salt
- Canned and processed food
- Sunflower seed
- Clams
- Black beans
- Salted Meat
- Smoked Fish
- Cottage Cheese
- Pickles
- Sauces
Adequate Intake (>19 yrs.):
A simple way to prevent sodium deficiencies is to maintain recommended daily intakes. The recommended daily intake of sodium for an adult is 2300 mg.
Summary
Sodium is a very important mineral that is necessary for maintaining muscle and brain health. Hyponatremia has several ill effects like coma and brain dysfunction which makes it the most important electrolyte in our system.
Although sodium deficiency has several ill effects, it can be reverted with the right consultation and medical supplements as prescribed by doctors. The best possible way to avoid these complications by consuming an adequate amount of sodium as per RDA through various sodium-rich diets.
