Chloride in the human body
Chloride - that sounds like a swimming pool, like foul-smelling chlorine in the water. Somehow unhealthy. But chlorine and chloride are two different things! Chlorine is a gas, chemically produced and used for water treatment. Chloride is the bound form of chlorine and a natural mineral that is essential for human life. Chlorine is a gas that is chemically produced and used for water treatment.
What is chloride?
Chloride is closely related to sodium. Together they form sodium chloride (NaCl), better known in common parlance as cooking salt, table salt or table salt. In the human organism, it fulfils important tasks with regard to fluid supply, kidney function, blood pressure and the acid-base balance, i.e. the regulation of the pH value in the blood. In addition, it is a building block for the formation of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, which is responsible for digesting food and fighting pathogens ingested through it. The chloride standard value in most laboratories is between 96 and 110 mmol/l.
How do elevated chloride levels occur?
If the chloride level is too high, this can be related to already existing diseases, such as diabetes mellitus (diabetes), kidney disease or diarrhoea. In chronic or prolonged diarrhoea, alkaline juices are lost and an imbalance between acids and bases occurs in the body. The kidneys try to compensate for the impending over-acidification by a reduced chloride excretion. The chloride concentration in the body increases.
The easiest way to normalise this is to increase your intake of fluids in the form of drinks and to avoid foods containing salt. If this is not enough, your doctor can prescribe medicines to increase excretion in the urine. In industrialised countries, abundant food and drink lead to high blood sugar levels.
In industrialised countries, the abundant food supply and the high salt content in food lead most people to consume more chloride in the form of table salt than the body needs. In addition, people in this country like to add more salt. Your body excretes the excess sodium chloride through the urinary tract in urine and through sweat. However, if your blood chloride level is too high in the long term, this can lead to or increase high blood pressure. The risk of a heart attack or stroke increases.
A study by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture with almost 7,000 participants showed that the daily salt intake of women is on average 8.4 grams and of men 10 grams. 50 percent of the men and 38.5 percent of the women even consume more than 10 grams of salt daily, which is clearly above the recommendations of the DGE. (You can find the link to the study below, under the sources).
When is chloride in the blood lowered?
Chloride deficiency is rare because nowadays almost all foods contain chloride in the form of salt. The main causes of a deficiency are heavy sweating (excessive excretion via the sweat glands), prolonged vomiting (loss of chloride in the hydrochloric acid of the stomach juice) and taking water tablets (increased excretion via the kidneys).
Often a deficiency is accompanied by other diseases. A mild chloride deficiency shows hardly any symptoms. Headaches, dry skin, thirst, drowsiness or water retention in the tissues occur. In severe cases, muscle cramps, nausea, weakness, poor digestion, circulatory problems and heart dysfunction occur. In the long term, an intake of less than two grams of salt can be dangerous, especially if you are active in sports and sweat a lot, because this increases the demand. Even your brain function can be affected because sodium chloride is involved in the electrical transmission of stimuli between nerve cells. Interesting: Supposedly unexplained "states of confusion" in old age can be indicative of a salt deficiency.
If salt consumption is persistently low, there is a high risk of also developing an iodine deficiency. The trace element is important for the thyroid gland. With a poor iodine supply, hypothyroidism can develop.
Chloride in water
Chloride also occurs in groundwater and drinking water due to natural rock leaching. Normal surface waters and groundwater contain 10-30 mg Cl /l. The higher the chloride content in water, the saltier it tastes. The limit value according to the Drinking Water Ordinance is 250 mg/l. (below you will find the link to the corresponding legal text).
How much does my body need?
In order for the body to have enough chloride available, it must absorb it through food in the form of sodium chloride. How much a person needs per day is an individual question. The daily requirement also depends on how much chloride he excretes. This happens mainly with urine and, to a lesser extent, with sweat and stool. On average, an adult needs about 830 milligrams of chloride a day.
And what are the guideline values for table salt? The German Nutrition Society (DGE) gives a value of 6 g per day as a guideline value for an average and healthy adult, which is about one teaspoon. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends a maximum of 5 g per day. Since almost all foods contain table salt, the daily requirement can be adequately covered with a balanced diet. Industrially processed foods such as ready meals, bread and pastries, breakfast cereals, soups, cheese and cheese biscuits, crisps, salted nuts, meat and sausage products contain a particularly large amount. Fruits, vegetables, vegetable oils, legumes and cereals contain very little salt.
Diagnosis at the doctor
If you experience symptoms that indicate a chloride deficiency or chloride excess, you should consult a doctor for further clarification. More severe deviations of the chloride level require specific medical diagnosis and care. If you suspect this, a blood or urine test will provide information. A measurement in sweat is also possible. The value is usually determined together with other electrolytes such as sodium, potassium and calcium. If the chloride value is too low, this can indicate a disturbed kidney function.
Caution: Under certain circumstances, there may be diurnal or seasonal fluctuations in the chloride concentration. The significance of individual laboratory values is therefore ideally assessed in connection with other values and an examination is repeated at an appropriate time interval.
Conclusion
Chloride, especially in the form of sodium chloride, is essential for our body's survival. Both a chronic deficiency and an excess can damage the human organism, so neither excessive nor too sparing salt consumption is healthy. Find a middle way! Most of the salt we consume is not from our own seasoning, but from food in which it has already been added by the manufacturer as a flavour enhancer. Therefore, it is best to cook for yourself, salt in moderation and use fresh herbs for seasoning. But above all, stay calm. Occasionally exceeding or falling short of the recommended amount is fine for healthy people.
