How bad is salt?
From Growing up WEIRD Podcast by Guen Bradbury and Greg Dickens
February 24, 2026 · 33 min
About this episode
The episode discusses the effects of sorbitol on liver health, the impact of early-life adversity on cardiovascular health, the importance and risks of salt consumption in babies, and motor milestones across cultures.
In this episode, Greg Dickens and I discuss recent news on how the artificial sweetener sorbitol affects liver health, and how gut microbes influence this. We discuss how early-life adversity affects cardiovascular health, and why it’s so challenging to really understand this. We then talk about salt - why it’s important, why it can be harmful, and how we should limit salt consumption in babies. Finally, we talk about motor milestones in different cultures. For more information on salt consumption in babies, see this article: https://guenbradbury.substack.com/p/how-bad-is-salt-for-babies Topics covered * How does eating sorbitol affect the liver, and how do your microbes help? * Does early-life adversity affect later-life health, and how does this differ in different cultures? * What does salt do in the body? * Why is too much salt bad for babies? * What foods do we need to limit for babies? * Do babies still roll in cultures in which they are never put down on the floor? These other podcasts cover related topics: Some of my subscribers have been urging me for a while to turn on the paid option to increase my Substack visibility. I’ve quietly turned on the paid option for this…
People in this episode
Hosts: Greg Dickens, Guen Bradbury
Topics covered
- sorbitol and liver health
- early-life adversity
- cardiovascular health
- salt consumption
- motor milestones
- gut microbes
Keywords
- sorbitol
- liver health
- early-life adversity
- cardiovascular health
- salt consumption
- gut microbes
- motor milestones
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Substack
Books & works: Intestine-derived sorbitol drives steatotic liver disease in the absence of gut bacteria, Early life adversity
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