• Question: Why do you become thirsty after having salty foods?

    Asked by wizzyg12 to Rob, Matt, Claire on 25 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Robert Woolfson

      Robert Woolfson answered on 25 Jun 2013:

      So salt is one of those things that the body absorbs really easily. When you eat some, the small intestine transfers it from your digestion into your blood. When this happens, your blood becomes more salty. That’s bad. Very bad. This can cause a stroke, a heart attack or any other number of problems.

      To stop this from happening, your body detects the salt and dilutes it by adding water to the blood. When your body decides there’s too much salt, it also sends a signal to your brain to tell you that you need to drink water.

      So, in short, lots of salt = very very thirsty.

    • Photo: Matthew Pankhurst

      Matthew Pankhurst answered on 26 Jun 2013:

      The body is amazing at keep things just nice, this includes the right blood pressure, the right temperature and the right balance of salt and water. You need a bit of salt in your body to take part in the chemical reactions that keep you living! When you eat salty foods, getting thirsty is the bodies way of saying “oi! we’ve got too much salt in here – drink some water to get back to the right balance”. If your body is polite it might even say please… If you eat too much salt without enough water, or drink too much water and don’t eat enough salt then your body will stop working as well.

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