Salt makes every recipe tasty. It is being used from ages to enhance the taste, flavor and texture of food. Salt is used as a preservative in every part of the world. Salt is an essential nutrient.
Related article Concept of 6 Tastes or Shad-Rasa in Ayurveda
Table of content
Salt and Salt Taste in Ayurveda
How Salt Affects our Body Functions ?
Importance of Salt in Ayurvedic Treatment
What Happens when you consume salt in excess ?
Who Should not Eat More Salt ?
Lavana Panchaka or 5 Major Salts in Ayurveda
Salt and Salt Taste in Ayurveda
Texts of Ayurveda consider salt among six important tastes ( Shadrasa) and are known as Lavana Rasa. The Panchamahabhuta constituents of this taste are Jala and Agni (water + fire).
According to the principles of Ayurveda, salt or salty-tasting foods increase moistness in the mouth by increasing salivation. When we consume salt, we feel as if our cheeks and throat are burning.
Lavana (salt) Balances Vata dosha and increases Pitta dosha and Kapha dosha.
Properties of salt are described as लुनति इति लवणं which means, it has a sharp piercing knife qualities. The presence of water element makes it heavy, moistening and balances Vata dosha. But the water element increases Kapha dosha. The fire element in lavana rasa imparts hot quality and increases pitta dosha.
How Salt Affects our Body Functions?
It gets quickly dissolved in body fluids and distributed throughout the body. It moistens tissues and softens them. Taste buds get stimulated by salt and this improves the sense of taste. It may slightly produce a burning sensation in the mouth. Lavana Rasa cuts and breaks down particles during metabolism and helps vitiated doshas to move towards the lower part of the digestive tract. It also liquefies thick Kapha and helps to move this off the respiratory tract through expectoration. Usually, all salts act as appetisers and improve digestion.
Importance of Salt in Ayurvedic Treatment
Lavana Rasa or salty ayurvedic preparations relieve rigidity, clear the obstructions of the microchannels and pores, increase digestive activity, improve taste, lubricate joints and tissues, stimulate sweating and penetrate deep-seated tissues.
Such salty ayurvedic preparations are mainly used in panchakarma or detox treatments like Basti and Nasya karma. These preparations are also administered to relieve acidity, constipation, productive cough and diseases where Vata is predominant.
What Happens when you consume salt in excess?
As said earlier it imbalances and increases Pitta dosha and Kapha Dosha. Generally, salts are very bad for the health of the eyes except for Saindhava lavana or sendha namak or Rock Salt. When consumption exceeds limits it vitiates blood and Vata, causes baldness, premature greying of hair, wrinkles of the skin, thirst, skin diseases, effect of poison and a decrease of strength of the body.
When salt is consumed more than the required quantity, it increases thirst, vitiates blood (rakta) and increases its volume. Even Vata gets vitiated by increased salt consumption and this can lead to fainting, burning sensation, and degeneration of tissues and muscles (mamsa dhatu ). This also causes baldness, hair loss, premature greying, early ageing and skin wrinkles. It lowers body immunity and leads to herpes (herpes, genital herpes or oral herpes) outbreaks. Increased salt in the diet may flare up skin problems like psoriasis, eczema, acne and pimples. Apart from these, it causes inflammation of body tissues, loss of teeth, infertility, klaibya or erectile dysfunction, increased uric acid level and gout.
Who Should not Eat More Salt?
Persons suffering from Hypertension or high blood pressure, gastric erosions, body oedema and fever should not consume excess salt. While taking meals you first have to eat a little bit of sweet-tasting food ( madhura rasa ), followed by sour foods ( amla rasa) and salt foods.
Lavana Panchaka or 5 Major Salts in Ayurveda
Ayurveda recommends using 5 types of salts. Here is the list of 5 salts in chronological order of their benefits and importance.
1. Saindhava Lavana – Rock salt
2. Souvarchala Lavana – Sochal salt or black salt (Sodium chloride with traces of Sodium sulphide, Sodium sulphate etc)
3. Bida / Vida Lavana – A type of black salt / Sodium sulphate
4. Samurda Lavana – Common salt (Sodium Chloride)
5. Romaka / Sambhara Lavana – Earthen salt.
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Author: Dr.Savitha Suri , Consultant Ayurvedic Physician
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