2. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow: (8 marks)
Salt, a miraculous gift of nature, is one of the most useful and amazing minerals on Earth derived from the sea and rocks. Do you know that it is the only rock the humans can eat?
Used in all bakery products, prepared foods, sauces, soups, spices, cereals, dairy foods, meats, poultry. It is also an extraordinary effective food preservative, retarding the growth of spoilage by micro-organisms and making food storage possible long before refrigeration.
How much salt is necessary for human consumption? Medical experts agree that everyone should practice some reasonable ‘moderation’ in salt consumption. For the average person, a moderate amount might run from 4 to 10 gm a day, or roughly half to one and one-third teaspoons. The equivalent of one to two gm of this salt allowance would come from the natural sodium in food. The rest would be added in processing, preparation or at the table.
Common salt, a chloride of sodium, is chemically represented by the symbol NaCl. The human body has a continual need for salt. Sodium chloride or the common salt is 39 percent sodium and61 percent chloride. Forming a solution in the body, these two components separate into sodium and chloride ions, each with a different task. Chloride maintains the balance of water between the living cell and its environment, plays part indigestion, and pairs with sodium to maintain the blood’s acid-base balance, critical for life. Sodium assists in regulating the volume of blood and blood pressure. It facilitates the transmission of nerve impulses and is necessary for heart and muscle contractions. Although the popular conception is that salt is a flavor enhancer, a recent American study suggests that it functions as a flavor filter on food, selectively enhancing and suppressing various tastes. Other studies showed that the use of salt suppresses the bitter taste of dark green vegetables like bitter gourds.
Salt’s functions in the body are already elucidated. Deficiency signs include lethargy, dizziness, cramps and palpitation.
But what the good salt can do, in the right dose, is unequalled. Snorers should try spraying their nose with a salt water to moisten mucous membrane and make it easier to breathe. To invigorate the body when tired or to remove dead skin cells, rub a handful of salt all over your body before having a bath. Salt baths encourage detoxification and greatly help muscle and joint pains. Add a pound of salt to a comfortably hot bath and lie in it for 20 minutes, add hot water as it cools. Wrap up in cotton towels and get into a warm bed. You should perspire freely, sleep well and feel much better in the morning. Remove all the congestion in your throat by saline gargles.
The recommendation that no one should exclude salt totally from the diet is awfully wrong. Scientists are of the view that salt is an invisible killer and, therefore, a health hazard. As new evidence piles up; alarm bells have started ringing. And the next battle might just be against salt!
Specialists are convinced that a diet high in salt causes high blood pressure, a disorder that afflicts one-third of people above the age of 60. Moreover, this is a risk factor for two big killers—coronary heart disease and stroke.
a) On the basis of your reading of the passage carefully, make notes on it, in points only using headings and sub-headings. Use recognizable abbreviations and a format you consider suitable. Also supply an appropriate title to it. (5)
b) Make a summary of the above passage in about 80 words. (3)