Why is salt bad for you, and pepper not?

Salt is very important for biology. You’ll die without enough in your system and you’ll die if you have too much (that’s why you’ll die from drinking seawater). I think there are many biochemical processes in the body that use salt (I’m sure others could have a more complete answer), whereas you could go your entire life without eating black pepper and your body wouldn’t be any different. As for the maximum amount of pepper? I haven’t a clue.

As for why salt is “bad for you,” your body wants to maintain the right level of sodium. Too much dietary salt will lead to higher blood pressure I believe as your body tries to retain more water to balance your salt levels out.

Pepper isn’t a basic compound like salt is; it’s a combination of different chemicals that vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Salt, as @gorilla said, is basic to life. Pepper isn’t.

Salt isn’t really BAD for you, unless you over do it. Salt is NaCl (Sodium Chloride) and when it dissolves the sodium can cause problems in high doses. Hardening of the arteries if I remember right. But your body need sodium and the testing that showed potential issues was showing extremely high concentrations.

Pepper is another story. “Pepper” can describe a whole series of things that are all peppers yet is not what we consider the table spice (black pepper). This article lays out some of the health benefits of black pepper. But peppers like cayenne, jalapeno, bell, etc also provide a great source of vitamin C…some more than citrus fruits.

But black pepper can also cause problem in large doses. This article spells out some of the problems that can occur. I would imagine that you would have to eat a ton of it before some of these showed up, but there they are.

A lot of people get too much salt from canned and processed foods, but healthy people often need salt…like my mother in law.
Hyponatremia can be caused by medications, hormonal changes, dehydration, and other issues.I
Additionally people have switched to better salt like Himalayan which doesnt have iodine. Eggs, fish, seaweed and dairy usually provide enough for those people who choose to avoid additives like myself.

Salt provides the electo-chemical reaction for the nerves to interact with every thing in your body

I once was taken to the ER.due to feeling “wierd”. My sodium level was so low it was life threatening. Same with potassium

@seawulf575 the problem is that most people think it’s just about going easy on the salt shaker. Like @KNOWITALL says, there’s tons of salt in canned goods and frozen items that people don’t even bother to check on. My mom nagged my dad for years about not putting the salt on his food. Meanwhile, as it got older, she liked to buy the Oncor dinners because she could get three or four meals out of them for the two of them. She had no idea how much sodium they had until I told her.

I have a condition (POTS) that requires me to consume large amounts of salt on a daily basis. It’s not as dangerous as people make it out to be, unless you are prone to hypertension.

Thank you @cupcake. I get sick of people scolding me for adding salt. I need to.

@Dutchess_III Yeah, I’ll black out when I stand up if I don’t have enough salt.