Why do we use Sodium in our sachets?
Each sachet of Naru Revive contains 1000mg of sodium. The formulation has been used by us personally since 2020, founded on science and refined through our experience of helping hundreds of patients with their nutrition and lifestyle changes over the last 10 years.
Sodium is an essential mineral with many functions in the human body:
Regulates fluid balance (blood flow)
Regulates blood pressure
Helps conduct nerve impulses
Promotes the release of vasopressin (or antidiuretic hormone) which helps you sleep through the night
Increases the absorption of certain nutrients through the gut
Dietary sodium comes from salt, or NaCl. Sodium is almost always found attached to a chloride (Cl) molecule.
Sodium has been wrongly vilified in nutritional circles. Sodium is the master controller of all other minerals. Other minerals are ‘essential’ and have their own critical roles in the body; however, sodium is the most important since it will allow your body to hold onto the other minerals by reducing aldosterone.
4 Reasons For Supplementing Sodium
1. To Replace The Sodium You Lose When Fasting
You lose around 2g of sodium a day for the first 7 days of your fast. Ordinarily, you are likely still losing around 1.5g of sodium a day. Therefore, most people require around 2g of sodium per day to prevent this loss in the urine. You may need to add this to your ‘normal sodium’ intake to prevent brain fog, dizziness, palpitations, etc.
2. Countering Diets That Cause Sodium Loss
Low-carb diets can cause increased sodium loss as you progress through the days:
Day 1: 3g of Sodium
Day 2: 2g of Sodium
Day 3 & Beyond: 0.5g to 1g of Sodium
Ketogenic diets and other similar restrictive diets, like Paleo, can also cause symptoms such as 'Keto Flu' and lethargy, which is largely due to the body's need for electrolytes and minerals that you are no longer consuming through your diet. The changes in your diet trigger a number of responses in your body, which will also result in further strain on your body's mineral balance.
3. Reviving Sodium Stores After Sweating & Exercise
Even heat acclimated exercisers will lose around 800–1,200mg of sodium every hour they exercise in the heat (typical swat loss is 1–1.5L per hours of exercise). Some athletes have shown to lose around 7 gram of sodium per day exercising in warm climates.
4. To Reach Daily Sodium Intake of 3-6g for Optimal Health
We would never add anything into Naru Revive without solid evidence to back it up! Here is some of the evidence we have based our sodium content on and our suggestion of 3-6 grams per day:
The PURE study examined over 100,000 people in seventeen countries and found that the LOWEST risk of cardiovascular events was in those consuming between 3g-6g of sodium per day. That’s 7.5g-15 grams of salt a day!
Meta-analysis studies of 275,000 patients found the optimal level of sodium intake was between 2.65g to 4.945g (6.6g to 12.36g of SALT) was associated with the LOWEST risk of death and CVD events.
The 2011 JAMA study showed again that 5 grams of sodium a day was cardioprotective.
If you have started to remove processed food from your diet or taken up fasting then you could be experience a 70% reduction in sodium intake! Losing salt means you are losing magnesium, potassium, calcium, chloride as SODIUM; is the regulator for the rest of the minerals.
LOW sodium intake increases insulin resistance, worsens blood lipid profile, increases obesity, increases risk of heart disease, and is generally associated with higher all-cause mortality.
‘Remember that while it is important to get all minerals, sodium is the most important since it will allow your body to hold onto the other minerals by reducing aldosterone.’ If you consume more fluid, you need to consume more minerals.
Conclusion
Mineral imbalance is the first part of the journey that the body goes on during an intermittent fast. You lose around 2g of sodium a day through fasting, so we need to start at the micro level first! Take care of your minerals, and they'll take care of you.
References
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Horký, K. "[Aldosterone as an endogenous cardiovascular toxin and the options for its therapeutic management]." Vnitrni lekarstvi 57.12 (2011): 1012-1016.
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Catanozi, Sérgio, et al. "Dietary sodium chloride restriction enhances aortic wall lipid storage and raises plasma lipid concentration in LDL receptor knockout mice." Journal of lipid research 44.4 (2003): 727-732.
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Sharma, Arya M., et al. "Effect of dietary salt restriction on urinary serotonin and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid excretion in man." Journal of hypertension 11.12 (1993): 1381-1386. GOUGEON, RÉJEANNE, et al.
"Effects of Sodium Supplementation during Energy Restriction on Plasma Norepinephrine Levels in Obese Women*." The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 73.5 (1991): 975-981.
O'Donnell MJ, Yusuf S, Mente A, Gao P, Mann JF, Teo K, McQueen M, Sleight P, Sharma AM, Dans A, Probstfield J, Schmieder RE. Urinary sodium and potassium excretion and risk of cardiovascular events. JAMA. 2011 Nov 23;306(20):2229-38. doi: 10.1001/jama.2011.1729. PMID: 22110105.
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