Why do we need salt? Detailed answer

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Why do we need salt? Detailed answer

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Why do we need salt?

The human body contains about 47 liters of water. It turns out that many of our organs contain a surprising amount of water. For example, muscles are 75% water, the liver is 70%, the brain is 79% and the kidneys are 83%!

But this body fluid is not pure water. It's actually saline. Why is it so? According to one scientific theory, all animals living on earth, including humans, are the descendants of organisms that appeared and lived in the sea. The body fluid of these creatures was sea water.

By moving to land, they retained sea water as their body fluid. But the earth is not able to provide enough salt in its natural form. Since salt dissolves in water, a significant part of the salt from the soil is washed out with rainwater into rivers, seas and oceans. As a result, plants growing on the ground do not contain enough salt.

This is why plant-eating animals need salt. The body loses a certain amount of fluid containing salt every day, and plant foods do not replenish it. Animals that eat other animals do not need additional salt. They get the salt they need from the body of their victims. This also applies to humans. For example, the Eskimos eat mainly meat, so their need for salt is very small.

People living far from the sea have an increased need for salt. In ancient Mexico, salt was so highly valued that there was even a god of salt. In Europe, in ancient times, people were often paid with salt for the work they did. The English word "salary" (salary) comes from "salt" (salt).

In the human body, salt accumulates mainly on the skin. If a person eats unsalted food, the blood loses its salt in various ways. Therefore, the skin must transfer its stores of salt into the blood in order to keep its concentration in the blood constant. This often has a positive effect on skin diseases. That is why, for some diseases, doctors often prescribe salt-free diets.

Salt is removed from the body mainly by the kidneys. If a person's kidneys are sick, he is prescribed a low-salt diet so as not to overload them.

Author: Likum A.

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

How did two Polish doctors fool the Nazis and save 8 Jews?

Two Polish doctors, Eugeniusz Lazowski and Stanisław Matulevich, saved 8 Jews during the German occupation with the help of "biological weapons". They discovered that after inoculation with a dead bacterium Proteus OX000, a blood draw would give a false positive test result for typhoid. Knowing this, the doctors decided to secretly vaccinate the Polish population of the town of Rozvadov and its environs by sending blood samples to the Nazis. Having made an analysis, the Germans decided that a typhus epidemic was raging in the city, declared it a quarantine zone and did not dare to visit there. Thus, the Jewish families living here escaped the fate of being killed immediately (as was the case with Jews infected with typhus in other places), and being sent to concentration camps.

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