Thursday, August 18, 2011

Salt is Addictive Like Cigarettes



Salt is addictive in the same way as cigarettes or hard drugs, a study has found. The findings could help explain why many find it so hard to cut back on salt, despite warnings about dangers to blood pressure and heart health.

Experts studied the brains of mice that had been starved of salt for three days and then given salty water to drink freely. When the rodents were in need of salt, brain cells made proteins more usually linked to addiction to substances such as heroin, cocaine and nicotine.

The study revealed that after salt was taken, the brain believes it has received its fix. The researchers said that the importance of salt to overall health means that cravings for it form "an ancient instinct" deeply embedded in the brain.

23 comments:

  1. Straight up have an ancient instinct need for salt. Sucks man. I am a salty dog.

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  2. Weird.
    I usually have cravings for a pinch of salt by itself..

    Definitely following!

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  3. pffft screw you man! I can quit whenever I want, I just won't quit... I need salt rehab.

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  4. Holy crap, i didn't know this. Now shut up and gimme the salt.

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  5. Wow, I used to like it, but now i can leave without it muahahaha My rehab was succesfull

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  6. my brother uses a lot of salt u.u i don't know why because the food is perfect but uses the same

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  7. Similar to another white crystalline powder. Definitely get mad strong cravings for salty food some times.

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  8. I knew a guy who pretty much were addicted to salt, till he had his heart attack. Luckily he survived.
    +follow!

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  9. That's too bad since salt is part of an everyday diet and it's in pretty much all the food we eat.

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  10. Salt makes food taste better, simple as that.

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  11. Wow, that explains why a friend of mine pours salt on everything before he eats. I didn't realize it could be that bad.

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  12. Oh shit, this explains a few things about my eating habits.

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  13. I've always known this .

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  14. Yo, your posts are addictive, give me a new fix!

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  15. Salt and Chilli, my two major culinary vices!

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  16. here is a fact that not many people know: Almost every soft drink contains salt because they want you to drink more, and salt in the drink makes you more thirsty. People today consume more salt than we did in the past. And its no coincidence that we are more and more obese.

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  17. Omg. that happened to me =(

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