Eating salty food -- such as chips, popcorn or salted nuts -- can make you feel thirsty instantly or some hours later. The sodium in salt plays a part in triggering thirst mechanisms, which help your body maintain appropriate balances of water and sodium in the bloodstream. Consult your doctor for medical advice if you have concerns about your sodium intake or unexplained thirst sensations.
Salt Absorption
Salt in your food travels through your digestive tract before being absorbed through the wall of your small intestine. From here, the sodium in salt passes directly into your blood stream, increasing the saltiness -- or salinity -- of your blood. Salt becomes concentrated in the fluid outside of your body's cells, and as a result water is pulled out of cells into the fluid in order to dilute the salt.
Brain Signalling
When the salt concentration in fluid outside your body cells becomes higher, your body's cells become dehydrated and send chemical messages to your brain that trigger the thirst response. Your brain contains a so-called thirst center which monitors the salinity of your bloodstream. The thirst center makes you feel thirsty when your blood becomes more salty than normal. Certain medical conditions or substances in the bloodstream can confuse the thirst center and produce a thirst response for reasons other than high blood sodium.
Recommended Daily Intake
For healthy adults, a maximum recommended daily intake of sodium is 2.4 g. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that most people living in the United States routinely consume far in excess of 2.4 g of sodium daily. Processed food, restaurant meals and the addition of table salt to home-cooked meals all add significant quantities of sodium to the American diet. If you have certain health conditions -- for example, cardiovascular disease or high blood pressure -- your doctor may recommend reducing your sodium intake to well below 2.4 g daily.
Thirst Sensation
Feeling thirsty is a natural physical response to being dehydrated or to eating salty foods. Feeling excessively thirsty, however, may indicate that your blood sugar is too high -- this state is known as hyperglycemia. Feeling very thirsty is one of the symptoms of undiagnosed diabetes, according to the MedLine Plus. Continuing, excessive thirst may be due to an underlying medical or psychological issue -- consult your doctor if your thirst response to salty foods changes significantly.
Member Comments