In line with Paracelsus’ principle, whereby “All things are poison and nothing is without poison, only the dose permits something not to be poisonous”, which is commonly distilled to become ‘the dose makes the poison’, an overdose of salt can give rise to negative effects on the health.
Like any substance, sodium chloride can give rise to effects which are adverse to the health if used to excess. This is borne out by research conducted by the University of Medical Sciences in Poznań and the Higher School of National Economy in Kutno into the impact of working conditions on the health of the employees at the rock salt mine in Kłodawa, in Central Poland. In respect of occupational health hazards, the main findings point to noise and the extensive presence of NaCl dust. As a result of the mechanisation of the rock salt extraction process, there has been an increase in the hazards relating to the emission of damaging noise levels and the significant spreading of salt dust. On the basis of the study, it was posited that an excess of salt dust, which has a powerful irritative action, can cause diseases such as chronic, atrophic, hypertrophic and allergic inflammations of the mucous membrane of the nose and, in an extreme case, the perforation of the nasal septum. The consumption of excessive quantities of table and cooking salts throws our bodies into disarray and causes the exacerbation of some pathological states.