Now Salt May Be Good For You

SALT

It's not just a snail repellent any more

(Straits Times)  -  The theory is intuitive and simple: If you eat a lot of salt - sodium chloride - you will become thirsty and drink water, diluting your blood enough to maintain the proper concentration of sodium. Ultimately, you will excrete much of the excess salt and water in urine.

But now, a new study says the theory may be completely wrong.

Studies of Russian cosmonauts, held in simulated space travel, showed that eating more salt made them less thirsty but hungrier. Subsequent experiments found that mice burned more calories when they got more salt, eating 25 per cent more to maintain their weight.

The research, published recently in The Journal Of Clinical Investigation, contradicts the conventional wisdom about how the body handles salt and suggests that high levels may play a role in weight loss.

The findings have stunned kidney specialists but experts said the findings need to be replicated.

"This is just very novel and fascinating," said Dr Melanie Hoenig, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

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