{"id":12362,"date":"2011-07-13T00:47:19","date_gmt":"2011-07-13T00:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/151.106.38.4\/2011\/07\/13\/yearning-for-salt-stimulates-brain-like-addiction\/"},"modified":"2011-07-13T00:47:19","modified_gmt":"2011-07-13T00:47:19","slug":"yearning-for-salt-stimulates-brain-like-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/2011\/07\/13\/yearning-for-salt-stimulates-brain-like-addiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Yearning for salt stimulates brain like addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all know that fish and chips wouldn\u2019t be the same without salt. However, scientists have now claimed that the yearning for salt stimulates the brain like addiction to hard drugs or cigarettes.
\nThey found that the craving triggers the same genes, brain cells and brain connections.
\nThe finding could help explain why many find it so hard to cut back on salt, despite warnings about dangers to blood pressure and heart health.
\nFor the study, Australian and American scientists kept some mice on low-salt diets and gave others a salt drip.
\nActivity in the creatures\u2019\u2019 brains was then compared with that in mice fed normally. They also studied the brains of mice that had been starved of salt for three days and then given salty water to drink freely.
\nWhen the rodents were in need of salt, brain cells made proteins more usually linked to addiction to substances such as heroin, cocaine and nicotine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this study we have demonstrated that one classic instinct, the hunger for salt, is providing neural organization that subserves addiction to opiates and cocaine,\u201d the Daily Mail quoted Prof Derek Denton, of the University of Melbourne, as saying.
\nThe study also revealed that after salt was taken, the brain believes it has received its fix well before it should be physically possible.
\nIn other words, the changes caused by salt cravings disappeared well before the salt could have left the gut, entered the blood and got to the brain.
\n\u201cIt was amazing to see that the genes that were set `off\u2019 by the loss of sodium were already beginning to get back to the original state within ten minutes,\u201d said Prof Denton.
\n\u201cIt is an evolutionary mechanism of high survival value because when an animal is depleted of water or salt it can drink what it needs in five to ten minutes and get out which makes it less susceptible to predators,\u2019 he added.
\nThe researchers said that the importance of salt to overall health means that cravings for it form `an ancient instinct\u2019 deeply embedded in the brain. This may explain why we find salty foods so tasty.
\nThe study appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.<\/p>\n

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We all know that fish and chips wouldn\u2019t be the same without salt. However, scientists have now claimed that the yearning for salt stimulates the brain like addiction to hard drugs or cigarettes. They found that the craving triggers the same genes, brain cells and brain connections. The finding could help explain why many find […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12362\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}