It has long been known that high sodium intake can be very bad for a person's health. Exactly how bad depends on the how high of a sodium intake a person has. How does high sodium intake affect someone's health insurance quotes though? Directly there is "A" to "B" correlation. There are no underwriters following people around to see if they consume 1,200mg a day or 5,000mg a day. There is certainly a correlation between high sodium intake and health insurance quotes though; it is a simple "A" to "B" to "C" correlation. To say it plainer: high sodium intake causes a person's health to deteriorate; poor health then causes an increase in sickness and a subsequent increase in health insurance quotes.

A small amount of salt needed to survive. It is true that some salt is needed by people to stay healthy. This number is around 1,200mg per day. The problem is that even those that buy mostly "low sodium" food items and never add salt can easily have more than that amount. As for people who add a lot of salt and never read labels, they can easily have 5-6x the daily recommended value. This is the range we get into where the amount of salt will cause damage to your body.

High sodium levels have a negative impact on your body in two ways. The first way is that it causes water retention and it does this while actually making a person dehydrated. This makes a person feel "bloated" while also making them want to eat and drink more. This is the reason movie theaters sell salty popcorn, it makes people want to consume more and the theaters make most off their money off of concessions. The second way high sodium is harmful is because of its effect on your blood. High sodium actually increases blood volume and weight. Because of this your heart has to work harder to pump the blood through your system. This results in what they call "high blood pressure" or "Hypertension". High blood pressure is the #1 and the #3 killer of adults in America today in the form of heart attacks and strokes.

A person's blood pressure is measured in two numbers, systolic and diastolic. This is where health insurance quotes come back into play. Since we know that hypertension leads directly to death and serious medical issues anyone with a high blood pressure reading is going to need to pay a higher health insurance quote, and the easiest way to lower that quote is by reducing a high sodium intake.