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Excess Salt Intake and Your Body's Electrolyte Balance
By: Jane Peters
Excess salt intake is responsible for causing many disorders including high blood pressure. What effects does excess salt have on
the body?
Salt intake beyond normal requirements upsets the body's sodium-potassium balance.
These minerals are involved in many body functions including signal transmission along the nervous system, maintaining the
integrity of cells and the body's energy production. They are essential electrolytes.
Sodium and potassium have a common property -- both conduct electricity. Pure water is not a conductor. When sodium chloride
dissolves in water, it releases sodium and chloride ions which carry an electric charge. This water can now conduct electricity.
The entire body, including all cells, organs and tissues, resides in a fluid medium. This fluid contains a large variety of minerals,
some of which are magnesium, sodium, potassium, calcium and phosphates.
Within each cell, there is more potassium than sodium in the fluid. Outside the cell, the fluid has more sodium than potassium.
Therefore, potassium is the primary electrolyte within the cells and sodium predominates outside the cells in the intercellular spaces.
Chloride acts to assist and complement both electrolytes.
This difference in sodium-potassium distribution is an important part of a complex electrolyte balance that is maintained between the
intracellular and extracellular fluid mediums. It affects what are called the osmotic gradients within and outside the cells. That, in
turn, impacts the hydration levels in the body, pH levels in the blood as well as the nervous and muscular systems.
The correct ratio is approximately three units of potassium to one unit of sodium. This will allow body processes to go on normally.
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