Does salt break a fast?

Salt has no calories, no sugar and no protein. On the four goals this site uses to sort answers, it is safe for weight loss, blood sugar, autophagy and gut rest. A pinch stirred into water needs no digesting. Table salt, sea salt and pink Himalayan salt get the same verdicts.

People add salt during a fast because the body loses more of it. In the first days of a fast your kidneys pass more sodium and water, and that can bring on headaches. How soon it happens depends on the person. Doctors recognise a "headache attributed to fasting". It usually eases after eating, and its exact cause is not known. If a headache eases after a salty drink, low sodium may have been part of it.

A quarter to half a teaspoon of salt holds roughly 500 to 1,150 mg of sodium. The range is wide because official sources weigh a teaspoon of salt at 5 to 6 g. For adults, WHO advises less than 2,000 mg of sodium a day, which is under 5 g of salt. So half a teaspoon in water uses about half of a day's allowance or more. Count it as part of what you eat that day, not as something extra.

Some people should ask a doctor before adding salt to a fast. That includes people with kidney disease, high blood pressure or heart failure, and anyone who takes water tablets. Potassium salt substitutes, such as "lo-salt" products, are not safe for everyone. Skip them if you have kidney disease or take spironolactone or other potassium-sparing water tablets, ACE inhibitors, ARBs or potassium supplements, unless your doctor agrees. Too much potassium can upset the heart's rhythm.