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0:00
Hello. My name is Susan
Fairweather-Tait.
I'm professor of
Human Nutrition at
the Norwich Medical School in
the University of East
Anglia in the UK.
I'm going to talk
about chloride.
0:15
Chloride, not to be confused
with chlorine which is
a toxic gas, is
an electrolyte and it's the
major anion in the body.
It acts as a counterion
to the cations to
sodium to ensure
electroneutrality.
It has some very
important roles in
maintaining the system in
the cells and the body.
It's responsible for
maintaining serum osmolarity.
That's the number of solute
particles per liter of serum.
It also helps with
fluid balance.
That means the concentrations
of the electrolytes and
the body fluids are maintained
within a healthy range.
It also is responsible for
membrane electroneutrality.
That means the sum of negative
electrical charges
equals the sum of
positive electrical charges and
it helps membrane polarization.
This is where lipid
membranes have
a positive electrical charge on
one side and a negative
charge on the other side.
These features are all part of
the cells and the
organs in the body.
It has another function though.
It's also required
for the secretion
of gastric acid in the stomach.
That's hydrochloric acid.
It's a very important
function there which
is separate from the
functions within the cells.
1:30
Most chloride comes from
sodium chloride which is salt.
That's the major source in
Western diets and this
comes in three main
ways into the diet.
It comes through cooking when
you add salt to
foods when you're
cooking or added table
salt that's discretion
use at the table.
Is also gets into food
through processing.
Industrial food processing uses
salt for various reasons and
then food preservation
where salt
is added which stops
the bugs growing.
It's a very good preservative.
Those are the main sources
of chloride in the diet.
But there are some food,
individual foods which
are high in chloride.
You've either got foods
which are high in
chloride because
the salt has been added to
them and that's the
processed meats such as ham,
bacon, sausages or cheese.
Canned fish is high in
chloride because it comes
from the sea which
has got brine in it,
sodium chloride. Olives salt
is added when olives
are processed.
Seaweed's from the sea again as
you've got salt from the brine.
Then salt is added to snacks
and crisps in varying amounts.
Some are very high in salt.
Then there are the
highly processed foods
which the ready
meals for example.
Salt is very much added
to add some flavor
to these foods.
Finally, there are condiments
such as soy sauce,
Worcestershire
sauce and ketchup,
all of which have a lot of
chloride in them through salt.
