By simulating a space mission to Mars, an international team of researchers noted that eating salty food led to greater hunger than thirst, at least in the long term. The reason seems to be a protective mechanism that conserves water in the kidneys.
A new study has challenged the old saying that eating salty food makes you thirsty. Researchers from the Max Delbrûck Center for Molecular Medicine in Germany and Vanderbilt University in the US city of Nashville studied the link between salt intake and drinking habits on a simulated space mission to Mars.
You may be thinking what's the connection between Mars and saltIJ There isn't one really, except perhaps that on a long trip, holding on to every drop of water is important. In fact, the advantage of this environment was that the scientists could easily monitor and measure all aspects of food, salt and water intake.
Their findings were published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation. Unsurprisingly, they showed that eating more salt led to urine with a higher salt content and a greater quantity of urine. But this increase was not due to the fact that the volunteers were drinking more.
The researchers found that the volunteers who went from a 6g to 12g salt intake drank less, and that a mechanism conserving water in their kidneys or producing more water was triggered.