July 21, 2025
Science

What would happen if the “salt” we consume every day disappeared?

  • July 8, 2023
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Salt, which has been controversial for years whether it is harmful to health or not, is actually part of our lives. So in our daily life Salt has

What would happen if the “salt” we consume every day disappeared?

Salt, which has been controversial for years whether it is harmful to health or not, is actually part of our lives. So in our daily life Salt has more than fourteen thousand uses. It preserves our food, heals our wounds and, according to some beliefs, even brings good luck. It is also used in fields such as defrosting, chemical processing, water treatment, agriculture, oil and gas industry.

Come for us salt formed by the combination of two deadly elements sodium and chlorine Let’s get to know a little better and see what would happen if there were no salt on Earth.

Let’s talk about the benefits first:

Salt helps transmit nerve signals in our body; allowing the muscles to contract and relax and the heart to pump blood.

It is helpful for digesting the food we eat and fighting infections.

low blood sodium; It can cause fatigue, vomiting, seizures and even death.

High sodium levels can build up between cells and thicken our blood. Thus, it makes the heart work harder and even stops the pumping function of the heart causes a complete cessation of the heartbeat.

Our body has 0.4% of our weight in salt, but this salt; It is excreted from the body through crying, sweating and urinating.

Adults need 1.5-2.3 g of salt per day.

Now let’s talk about what can happen if we go without salt:

In the 1930s, of Cambridge University’s Department of Experimental Medicine, Dr. Robert McCance conducted a “ten-day salt-free life” experiment with four volunteers.

Dr Robert McCance

First, McCance had the volunteers expel all the salt from their bodies through perspiration. After that, they eat literally everything they consume with different cooking methods. separated from salt.

After a while, the participants started to get so tired that they couldn’t even eat anymore and even had a fluid imbalance due to sodium deficiency. “Hyponatremia” They started showing symptoms.

So the blood cells started to swell to regulate how much water the blood cells use. there was no salt in their bodies. Therefore, at the end of the experiment, McCance gave the participants salty foods again and their energy was quickly restored.

If this were the case in 10 days without salt, what would happen if all the salt on Earth disappeared?

First of all, for a long time Let’s say from the start that we can’t live. Not only we, but also animals and plants could not live long.

As we know from high school, green plants carry the mineral salt and water they take from the soil to the leaves through wooden pipes. chlorophyll in leaves they absorb sunlight, so the photosynthesis reaction takes place in chloroplasts.

As a result of this reaction, plants produce nutrients and oxygen. If there were no salt, photosynthesis would be disrupted and as a result both humans and animals would run out of oxygen. Also, plants could not produce food for themselves.

Due to the desalination of the oceans, the algae that live under water die.

Algae balance osmosis pressure by adjusting their intracellular fluids to the level of salinity. While algae living in salt water prevent water loss by making their intracellular fluids more concentrated, algae live in unsalted water causing the intracellular fluids to dilute more they reduce water absorption. If there is no salt on earth, algae cannot balance the osmosis pressure and thus cannot live.

Climates would be unstable, fluctuating between extreme heat and extreme cold with an increase in hurricanes.

Temperature directly affects water loss through evaporation from the soil surface. If there was no salt in the ground the amount of evaporation could not be balanced, This would result in inconsistent climatic conditions.

This turbulent weather; to food shortagewould cause oxygen deprivation, headache, vomiting and extreme fatigue.

If this were the case, the slightest numbness or pain in the chest we would feel would indicate an impending heart attack.

Fortunately, there is no such thing as completely disappearing salt, but keep your relationship with salt at a constant level.

Sources: what if

Source: Web Tekno

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