First of all, there is a problem with this topic, not that some people have to eat salt, but that all people have to eat salt, and that no animal does not need salt (the salt mentioned below refers mainly to sodium chloride, and does not refer to other salts as defined chemically).
We all know that salt is an indispensable substance in life, from ancient times, our ancestors learned to use salt to increase the flavor of food, and humans themselves have a pursuit of salt, because salt can promote the release of dopamine in the nerve center, making people feel happy. Moreover, if the human body lacks salt, then the internal balance (sodium-potassium balance) will be disordered, dizziness, nausea may occur, and the sodium ions in salt can maintain the body's blood volume and normal osmotic pressure of cells, maintain the normal excitement and stress of human nerves and muscles, and can also activate a variety of functions such as human muscle contraction, and chloride ions in salt can help the human body maintain normal acid-base balance, help produce stomach acid and activate amylase, so salt plays a very important role in the normal physiological function of the human body [1]。 If you don't eat any salt, it can even lead to death. But salt is not the more you eat the better, the World Health Organization (WTO) recommends that it is best not to exceed the intake of 5 grams of salt a day, and the Chinese Nutrition Society recommends that it is best to eat salt no more than 6 grams a day, that is, half a tablespoon, eating too much salt is mainly to cause damage to kidney function, and may also lead to high blood pressure.
So do animals need to eat salt? Of course, for now, no salt-free animals have been found, but only that animals do not eat salt directly, but ingest it through other means. For herbivores, it is generally in the salt marsh area of plants or salt-containing water to obtain salt, and carnivores, generally in the blood of hunted animals to obtain salt, and even some animals will lick the salt soil to obtain salt, but animals need less salt than humans, because humans are very tasteful organisms, if there is no salt, tasteless food is difficult to swallow, and the animal's taste is relatively dull, as long as enough salt is ingested to maintain normal physiological needs, at the same time, Salt plays a very important role in maintaining the acid-base balance of animal body fluids, the osmotic pressure of cells and body fluids, the metabolism of water, and the digestion of feed, but like humans, animals cannot eat too much salt, and eating too much salt may even lead to salt poisoning [2].
In general, both animals and humans need salt, and it has not been found that any creature can not need salt.
This issue is written by Liao Yuying and Zhao Lichao
Editor: Peng Mingqian
bibliography:
Wang Baowei. Excessive daily intake of table salt is harmful to health[J]. Life and Disaster, 2005(2):46-47.
Suo Xinfeng, Wu Tingbin, Li Dechang. A brief analysis of the prevention and control of salt poisoning in several common animals[J]. Gansu Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, 2003, 33(3):28-29.
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