We have such a love of salt in our food. Where does this love come from? Is it a natural affinity or deficiency?
"The human body contains many salts, of which sodium chloride (AKA common table salt) is the major one, making up around 0.4 per cent of the body's weight at a concentration pretty well equivalent to that in seawater. So a 50kg person would contain around 200g of sodium chloride - around 40 teaspoons."
What is the purpose of salt in our bodies? Quora.com so often answers these questions:
"Every neuron in your body uses salt to conduct electricity...
And salt regulates water content (and therefore osmotic pressure)
"If you eat too much salt, your kidneys pump it into the bladder, and you pee it out. Even at highconcentrations, a properly functioning kidney will dump excess salt into the bladder. This is such an important function, it's probably why we have two kidneys to do it.
However, if you eat too little salt, or lose too much (sweat, vomit, diarrhea), a condition called hyponatremia, you'll have major problems. Water will flow into your cells, which will now have a higher salt concentration than your blood. This is because water flows through a membrane (like a cell membrane) towards higher salt concentrations. Your cells will swell and may, at high enough concentrations, burst.
Bursting cells = bad news. So, why do we love salt? We love salt because, evolutionarily, eating too much salt is far more advantageous than eating too little."
Today our pictures show the Silverton Shop with the box cars and antique cars in the yard.
