This was a FANTASTIC overview, not just of sodium intake, but of hydration and actual nutrition science. With all the phoney info out there, it's rare to see someone actually cite the data without distorting the balance of the evidence. Kudos!
So many of these studies are in normal and non active humans. So the problem I have is that as a marathon runner, these studies don't really apply to me. In order to convince me that salt is not important, you would have to show me the same amount of research in highly active individuals. It's like comparing apples to oranges. I personally have greatly increased my salt intake and sip on electrolyte drinks throughout the day during heavy training weeks and have noticed huge improvements in how I feel duri g the day and my performance for longer duration runs. Of course, the key is balancing the sodium with other electrolytes like potassium and magnesium. An excess of sodium without other electrolytes like potassium is probably one of the bigger issues. Processed foods are very low in potassium, magnesium, and calcium and high in sodium. Also, correlation does not always equal causation. Could the damage to the endothelial tissue and other issues associated with salt be actually due to blood glucose spikes caused by highly processed food? Do any of the studies look at the impact of sodium added to an already healthy diet?
Well some of this research was on top finishers in Ironman triathlons. … And my own story of running 100 miles in the desert You are more than welcome to go find more studies. I provided a lot for this video Food choices don’t need to change based on activity level. Just eat more if you’re more active. But we all can do quite well on the diet we were evolved to eat. And salt wasn’t part of ancient man’s diet and they were quite more active than all of us runners here
Life expectancy is declining. Yeah they may have died of blunt trauma or exposure but they didn’t die of what everyone does of these days. The top 10 killers in the westernized world are preventable and reversible with diet Food that’s grown naturally from the earth is obviously what we were evolved to eat and thrive from.
Hmmm.... I am going out on a limb here and say, salt is not a "one trick" pony. Three aspects about salt are presented as if they are singular type for evaluation. 1) Salt intake, 2) athletic performance, and 3) general dietary intake all have nuances for endurance athletes because their daily life is also daily regimented training. This lifestyle/training combination is not part of the average person's lifestyle. There is a difference between proper "dietary salt" and "hyperactivity-driven" salt demands. And, this difference gets more complicated when you train daily because the daily NEED is defined by daily USE. When it comes to training, the need is increased because endurance athletes loose more. Salt is a need vs. loss relationship. This is when both timing AND quantity of salt intake becomes the dominate aspect of salt intake. Salt use is not a solely a - good vs. bad concept. Taking daily dietary salt intake and extrapolating its relationship to training demands for salt is misappropriating the research that indicates sodium has negative implications for the general population. General population dietary guidelines for salt intake often does not apply directly to athlete's needs DURING intense training OR in preparation. While supplementary intake of salt is PART of ALL dietary salt intake, it is the secretion of salt based on demand and bodies ability to process salt that determines it value. So, salt intake dosage is not simple, can not be generalized, and is much more complex than asking the question, "Is salt actually bad for runners?". Salt dosage during training may be bad or considered excessive when compared to the general population but endurance athletes are not the general population.
Love this topic! Despite being very aware of the typical dangers of high sodium intake, I did not know that salt can damage endothelial cells. I certainly don't want to be doing that. Thanks Coach!
Since reading your book and implementing it my health and running have improved immensely in just 5 weeks. I got rid of oil and salt and have been doing true easy running with strides and it’s amazing how good I feel. Thanks Coach. Keep the videos coming. As much as believed what you said about salt in previous reading and video, this in depth explanation was excellent.
Thanks. Yeah my goal isn’t to cause drama. But I’m not the best at sugar coating either. No time for that in RU-vid comments. Just say it as it is. Thanks for the support
Very good video with a lot of good info. This is prob why you see elite athletes not really needing to hydrate as much. I do think all these electrolytes companies are thriving off making money and over inflating the need for higher salt intake when it comes to exercise. This is the type of world we live in especially when you look at it from a Birds Eye view.
I agree that salt is overblown for endurance running. I keep added salt to a minimum (only real source for me is small amount in homemade bread). I keep to a whole foods plant-based, so most of my salt comes from the food I eat. Most days, I keep salt under 1k mg and run 10+ miles daily. I have run my last five marathons with no liquid taken for the entire race since I wasn’t thirsty and didn’t want to go to the bathroom. I have run 2:40ish marathons this way.
Amazing! This video was SO good 🎉I learned so much about salt. I’ve always been told that I need salt. Thanks for providing all of the research. Well done sir
I find this very interesting. I am a 61 y.o. triathlete. I am training for my second Ironman next year. My biggest unresolved part of my training is my diet, including supplementation of nutrients. I have a history of painful (and sometimes debilitating) calf and foot cramps. I get these most when I am swimming and sleeping. My coach is a big proponent of supplementing with salt - especially during events. I have followed his advice, but it always seemed counterintuitive to me, for many of the reasons you use in coming to your conclusions. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I will consider them as I move forward in my training.
I've been a runner for going on 50 years and try never to eat processed foods. I agree that a whole foods plant based diet is best, for so many reasons.
I don’t eat meat or dairy. Love potato chips though. I find when I’m running 20-50 Km plus my best and shorts have enough crystallized salt I can brush it off. Since increasing my salt content in outings I no longer have an hamstring cramps. Going to have to dig deeper into this topic. However my on trail results seem to be salt helps me make km’s and vertical.
Yup. If you have a motor salt in your diet you need to take salt in long runs. But if you reduced dietary salt you could reduce salt on your runs. And save your arteries
I'm pretty sure the Tarahumara have not historically had access to Powerade or LMNT. Thanks for posting this one, friend. A hundred miles in the desert, nothing but water and food. That says a lot there, doesn't it?
I almost never take jealous, I mean, I guess I would in a race if that’s all I had and I was bunking, but I do my best to avoid that situation. I eat Whole Foods exclusively, mostly raw. However, in very long ultra races it’s hard to simply get enough calories being fully raw. The volume is just too large, so I do have some cooked food plant-based during long ultras of 100 miles or more. This might include steam potatoes, cooked greens, lentils, oil free hummus. And it’s also not about being perfect. In my daily life, I eat this way 100%, but in the middle of a 200 mile race, or 300 mile race, if I need a massive dump of calories, my standard is that it must be 100% point-based. But in such a rare of a pinch as described above, I might have some bread, soup, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, something like that.
Understood about salt, thank you. I always questioned the line, "if you're thirsty, it's already too late." Drink to thirst. Thanks again. Best wishes Gary
First marathon I ran in 2019, I had no clue about gels, salt, or any of that. Just had 1/2 a banana at mile 13 and surprisingly no stomach issues. Since then, I’ve tried all sorts of things, but still hit stomach problems around mile 20. Lately, I’ve been taking electrolytes daily with 810mg of sodium (sea salt). Drank it before today’s easy 13 miles in 55-degree weather, and for some reason, I got way thirstier than usual. And then, your video showed up in my feed-guess it’s time to toss the electrolytes mix!
I just started preparing for my first marathon and got into all the nutrition and hydration guides. this video is a breath of fresh air after hearing all those videos saying I need to run with sodium IV. such a simple biological argument, dont know why no one else sees that.
Very insightful. I know vegan gets a bad rep but I will say that if you are looking to increase your athletic performance, vegan is a good way to go. It’s kinda like putting gas in your car…there’s diesel, unleaded, then unleaded premium, than there’s electric cars. Each type of fuel will get you to where you are going BUT what is cleaner and better for you in the long term.
Hey Andrew, still waiting on your video about creatine that you promised. Any idea when is that coming out? I really want to see what you have to say about that and if creatine will boost my performance for races up to half-marathon.
On population AVERAGE people consume more salt than they need, but that does not mean it applies to everyone - you have misrepresented that part of the data. If you eat a lot of processed foods you will likely benefit from sodium reduction, yes. BUT, if you don't and also don't over-consume carbohydrates, you likely need more salt. If you have any adrenal issues you also likely need more salt. It's not black and white and you're missing some major pieces - the relationship with potassium and the persons levels of insulin.
This isn’t true. You’re saying if you don’t over consume carbohydrates you don’t need more salt”. That’s confusing. Fruit and vegetables are carbohydrates. And they contain the salts which you need. The reason people have too much sodium and not enough potassium is a result of eating foods other than plants. Which are low in sodium higher in potassium…as if it were the perfectly designed foods we were meant to eat!
the first part of this might sound a lot different if re-purposed for a non-American audience, especially concerning the treatment of fresh meat (not legal to add anything to fresh meat in EU/UK). In general, I think the whole import of this discussion should be tailored to the target audience, which is likely already lying outside of the average American dietary habit. I'd like to hear about the sodium regimens of elite runners, in everyday consumption and in training/racing strategies. I liked the nuance at the end re individual differences in salty sweat but I don't think the salt-in, salt-out explanation necessarily holds up in all cases. Baket et al, (1985) were surprised to find that "fluid balance and Na+ intake were not significant factors in the sweat [Na+] models", and put greater emphasis on type of activity and the conditions in which it takes place, meaning a salt strategy might not only be individually constructed, but also changeable on a race-to-race or workout-to-workout basis. That study was Gatorade-funded, but the specific methodology in that part of the data gathering doesn't seem to be obviously serving a particular interest, and the uncertainty was compounded by McCubbin's (2018) study, "The Impact of Dietary Sodium Intake on Sweat Sodium Concentration in Response to Endurance Exercise: A Systematic Review". It might be best, in this knowledge landscape, for distance runners to know themselves, as they are required to do in every other aspect of their training.
The westernized world consumes far too much salt, be Americans or other. Even if you completely eliminated all meat, processed or not, from your diet, on average those people are still getting far too much salt. That’s the research that I put up on the screen on even vegetarians getting far too much salt.
@@runelitecoach Absolutely granted. I think most here accept this point, but I think most here would also like a deeper dive into the particular over the general, including some of the other things I mentioned like elite fuelling in races and in training in general, and individual and situational differences in sweat and how to leverage your diet/fuelling accordingly. After all, a 100m race in the desert affords you the option of lots of whole foods and juices. A road marathon not so much.
oh, and by the way Andrew, I really enjoyed your book. Just ran a 10-min marathon PB, ten years since I last ran one, at age 46. Following the training stages you laid out was, I am sure, a major factor in this.
The whole food plant based diet is nearly as old as time. It’s basically the Genesis 1:29 diet. That’s what our body is designed for, and modern science backs this up. Genesis 1:29-30 [29] And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. [30] And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
I recently learned in a NASM course that people need 2,300 mg of salt per day. I started tracking mine and soon realized I wasn’t getting near enough due to the fear salt is bad.
@@runelitecoachI’ll have to play with it. I suffer from overheating/dehydration and have needed to get IVs several times throughout my life because it frequently gets over a hundred degrees here in Chico, CA. As a result, I often have to run in the mornings when it’s cooler out.
Don’t believe either. Just read the research. It’s not opinion we’re presenting the studies. Which are conclusive if you read enough of them and check the funding for them.
Helpful if you translated grams to teaspoons - 1/4, 1/8, 1/16. My daily DIY electrolyte drink is 1/4 Himalayan pink salt, 1/8 potassium (Nusalt), and 1/16 magnesium in 16 oz distilled water. I'm carnivore (eggs and beef, and add 1/4 teaspoon iodized salt in cooking). I run and lift.
Interesting video. I try to eat few processed foods and a balanced diet in general. For cooking I can just say, I don´t wanna miss salt always, as it might play a big role in a great tasting meal. For me eating and cooking also is about enjoying the process and taste. Though, probably, one is conditioned to using too much salt and "needing" it for flavour, probably one can reduce it and improve tasting - sensitivity, thus needing less salt for taste.
Sure, I get that. I’m not telling you to never eat any salt whatsoever. I’m saying that it’s up to you, but most people will do very well to reduce their salt intake. Ideally will get it to you below. 1500 mg per day, but most people are far in excess of this, so even just a quarter teaspoon reduction per day does have profound health benefits.
could this imply a benefit in taking a nitric oxide powder. supplement before a marathon? When I lifted weights a lot I used Transparent Labs' stim free pre-workout which was, in essence, a vasodilator. Is there benefit in something like this before a marathon?
It outright implies to consume nitric oxide forming foods. But not to take nitric oxide supplements. People will pop pills all day and do whatever they can to avoid just eating healthy sometimes. The answer isn’t a pill, it’s in the plants we eat. In this case leafy greens (although rhubarb and fennel seeds are also super high in nitric oxide)
Great content! Could you please do a video on rehabbing plantar Fasciatis? Treatment protocols are all over the map and it's frustrating. I'm 43, have done 2 marathons in last 2 years and am now working through a depressing 1st bout with PF. I was building mileage 10-15%/wk at 48mpw aiming for a sub 3hr marathon, adding more strides and started playing alot of tennis with my daughter at night to get her ready for her season. Started getting pain in a heel and ignored it and it got painful...Went to a running focused PT, got powersole insoles and have been stretching/strengthening for 3wks. I can only run 20min 2-3 times/wk before it hurts alot and is sore after. It doesn't seem to be improving...Have you had it? Any recommendations? Thanks alot!
Before watching this I'm gonna say.. I need extra salt sometimes. I've had literal salt shortages which were noticeable. I couldn't hold water, i had a crazy craving for salt. My lips got dry, I had to pee a lot. Couldn't sleep. No energy. The sweating and more! As soon as I took some salt it all disappeared. The diet I ate at that time contained almost no natural salt. I exercised a lot as well.
I get that there is probably an excess amount of salt in food bought from restorants/processed. But what if you are doing your own meal preps? Are you saying that salt shouldn't be added during cooking, and there is plently present in the raw food?
You’re talking about organic and inorganic sodium . Plants have the ability to covert sodium from the soil into a form that humans can utilize . Table salt ? You might just as well eat sand , it does you no good . This video confirmed everything I’ve read on this subject .
Hi thanks for the video, I learned one time that the amount of sodium is not negative but the sodium / potassium balance is the most important. Have you read about this ?
Yes of course! And I talk about this in this video. It’s not the balance that’s imprortant it’s that sodium is way too high and potassium is way too low. So shift that balance. But it doesn’t mean you can offset sodium with potassium
What are your thoughts on running fasted during the morning hours? Is there a need to supplement prior to running? This assumes salt intake is above the 1500mg level.
As long as it’s not a peak workout you can totally run fasted in the morning. I have my runners just take some antioxidants before a run like this. Green tea, black tea, lemon water, a handful of berries or greens. Works well
A-salt our bodies 😂 I wonder why people who do low carb diets lose a lot of water weight initially (first 2 weeks). Most of the low carb foods are high in salt. Steak, burgers, chicken, bacon; you’d think that much salty foods, they would retain water.
It’s because they use up all of their glycogen. Glycogen stores with four molecules of water. So they shed a lot of water pretty quickly, and a lot of glycogen.
Is that a Himalayan salt lamp behind you? Be careful, it's probably absorbing all the negative energy you're throwing around about salt! That thing's going to need therapy after this conversation 😂
@@runelitecoach I was joking about the salt lamp "absorbing negative energy" and needing therapy, I was just playing around with the belief that Himalayan salt lamps cleanse spaces of bad vibes and you were advising people not to use salt.
These studies are on average people, which from my observations includes most runners. There are unprocessed meats as well. I hope your veggies (which I love.and grow) are from a very good organic farm (not hydroponic) otherwise you're getting nothing as far as minerals and vitamins.
Meat is processed any way you slice it. It’s killed, cut up, frozen, packaged…unless you’re eating it straight from the source as true carnivores do it’s processed. And high in salt. Meat is high in salt no matter where you’re getting it from. HighER than any plant you’re going to eat. That’s why consuming meat is one of the dominant ways people get salt And I provided studies here on top Ironman athletes as well
Good video! Had a Really funny thought…..No one ever talks about how in the lion king, simba grew up with a carnivore diet, got ran off and learned a new catchphrase to make his problems go away and started a vegan life style but still gained 400 pounds and came back to beat his uncle’s ass!! 😂😂
Excellent video! Oftentimes I see people on running forums, like Reddit, talking about taking salt tables for a marathon and/or forcing themselves to consume X amount of liquids per hour during a marathon. I'm always shaking my head ("no way!"). Common sense has told me otherwise. Drink to thirst! This is also discussed in the book Good to Go by Christie Aschwanden. ... Perhaps you could discuss the same insanity of taking in excessive amounts of Gu or other energy gels. Taking some, perhaps, is good, but not 1x energy gel at the start and 1 every 20-30 minutes thereafter. That's nuts, too! I highly doubt any elite runner is consuming that much energy gels during a long race. Thanks!
Wow - this is interesting and useful but how do we square this against the plethora of “respectable” podcasts (Huberman etc) that advertise / endorse things like “lmnt” and / or “Precision hydration”. Are these just other examples where we should “follow the money” like Gatorade (and recently AG1, separate topic but same principle). Thank you for putting together “your case” in a rigorous yet digestible format.
You can just look at the evidence based literature such as I cited here. Huberman is wrong about this. But that’s not an attack on him, he didn’t do any of the research, he’s just reporting on some of the research. If you just read the research yourself, you’ll come to the same conclusion as I present here. Don’t take my word for it, just read the research papers that I’ve linked in the video.
Also AG1 offered to sponsor my channel and I declined. Not because green powder is “bad” but because the actual answer is to just eat fruits and veggies. People try all sorts of gymnastics to get around that. Same with salt, just eat proper food and you’re good. We definitely don’t need to be taking salt. I mean I guess you could make an argument for a very high mileage ultra runner to have some more salt, maybe, but for a non ultra endurance athlete to take salt is just putting a bandaid on the wound. And they’ll just be increasing their risk of stoke and heart disease. And unfortunately even endurance athletes still die of these causes.
@@runelitecoach You say that but you’d think he’d be quite precious about his podcast sponsors given the huge platform and “science-based” ethos of his work. Perhaps (enough) money talks. I don’t doubt the sincerity of your message but is it plausible that others could point to other research to help present counter arguments? These topics can represent something of a maze for the time-poor “man on the street”. Thanks again for the work that went into this video.
Abebe Bikila, won Olympic gold 1960 in Rome by marathoning barefooted in 2h15’ just on water, without sports gels, definitely without salt pills. I know that’s another n=1 study as in your impressive 100 miler. Those were the days. Anyway, always advocated for leaving the door open. Very interesting content. Excited for your book . Let us know when pre-orderable. I’m in.
Sort of… but they pay a lot (I see what they offer me and I’m smaller than him) and he may actually believe it. But I’m not convinced that pasteurized pulverized greens in powders form packed in plastic are superior to eating raw fresh greens. 🥬
The deeper answer to that is in the video. The answer is to reduce salt in your daily diet over time and then the salt pills become unnecessary. But until you up regulate aldosterone you may still need salt. But it perpetuates the problem
If a person eats for example 1500 mg of sodium a day as recommended, and runs everyday around 2 hours on avg. Loses 900mg of sodium per hour ( very realistic avg lose rate for serious athlet who runs in the heat ) So he lost 1800mg a day of sodium, ate only 1500mg. Would what would you recommend?
The video explains this in detail. They’re only losing that much salt because they’re eating a lot of salt. If you reduce your salt intake, you will not sweat out as much. I myself run about two hours per day, and in the video I reference 100 mile race that was run in the desert, I didn’t take any salt, and there was no cramping or dehydration. But until you re-regulate your aldosterone, you may need to take some salt, but the point isn’t to put a Band-Aid on the problem, let’s solve the problem, long-term, and reduce salt intake. The same Runner, who is running those two hours per day, is also going to eat more food, presumably. That food will contain salt. It’s more about getting enough food, which contains natural salts, then supplementing with additional salt.
@@runelitecoach Thanks, I watched the video, but your personal one race experience is obviously not enough of a sample size. And you did provide great stuff don't get me wrong and I agree with you on the big picture. But for example, I am a vegan and try to eat as healthy as possible. I weight 64kgs and eat only 2.3k calories a day to maintain my weight mainly fruits. I don't think I eat more then 2k mg of sodium. But I still sweat a lot. And in sure if I'll calculate I'm under 1500mg recommended amount in calculation with the running.
There are loads of examples. I’m not going to write an essay here with all the examples you could find if you looked. But you can read the literature on that too. But if you’re coming to RU-vid for information then it’s delivered in this format. Feel free to go deeper if you like. I’ve gone very deep in to the research and I’m telling you what the research says. Feel free to check it all out on your own Check out TheFruitarian RU-vid channel. Great information there.
This video made me uncomfortable. I don’t think a lot of the analogies you made were particularly good/accurate in terms of what you tried to represent. As far as the salt stuff goes, will look into this more. Interesting video.
