The Salt Appetite and its role in Human Physiology

Ionic balance is essential to physiological and biochemical functions of humans. By regulation of blood pressure and membrane potentials, sodium and potassium play an extremely important role among all the ions. In the form of salt in fried foods, modern diets contain a high amount of sodium. On the other hand, fruits and vegetables – rich sources of potassium find reduced importance in today’s diets. Diets high in sodium and low in potassium lead to hypertension. Why then do we crave sodium? 

For millennia, herbivores have always consumed diets high in potassium and low in sodium. This induced the development of a ‘regulatory drive to consume salt’ in order to provide the body with the necessary sodium. Wild herbivores still depend on ‘salt licks’ – natural pools of mud with incredibly high amounts of salt – to sustain their body sodium. These animals visit these salt licks a few times a week to consume large amounts of salt to make up for their otherwise salt poor diets. Tribes living in remote parts of the world do not display the usual age-related hypertensive changes – partly due to the reduced amount of sodium and increased amount of potassium in their diet.

As of today, the Recommended Dietary Allowance for sodium is 1.5 grams. A 100 gram serving of French Fries contains 210 mg of sodium and a 100 gram serving of Raspberries which contains only 1 gram of sodium. 

Increasing the intake of potassium has been shown to reduce the progression of hypertensive, atherosclerosis and ischemic heart disease among other diseases. These benefits are enhanced when dietary intake of sodium is reduced.

In layman’s terms, consuming more fruits and vegetables and reducing the consumption of salty foods can go a long way in the global fight against lifestyle diseases.

Hence, the age-old adage - an apple a day keeps the doctor away – really got it right after all!