Salt

[tansy]

Just wondering - humans need salt to live (I assume that most or all animals do too), but thousands of years ago, unless you were living by the sea and eating seafood, where did people get their salt intake from? I know that there are saltmines and things, but does salt occur naturally in any plants or animals (other than marine)?
I mean, if hypothetically there were suddenly only a few people living in the middle of Britain, and there was no food in the supermarkeys etc, and the people didnt KNOW they needed salt, would they all die?
I hope this question makes sense..I know people can get ill from a LACK of salt.

 

[laconicstudent]

Just wondering - humans need salt to live (I assume that most or all animals do too)

Yes.

, but thousands of years ago, unless you were living by the sea and eating seafood, where did people get their salt intake from?

traces in the drinking water, from their meat, from their plants. And it isn't really salt that you need. You just really need the ions that compose salt, sodium and chloride.

I know that there are saltmines and things, but does salt occur naturally in any plants or animals (other than marine)?

........... yes.... are you serious with this? Sodium Chloride is a naturally occurring ionic molecule.

I mean, if hypothetically there were suddenly only a few people living in the middle of Britain, and there was no food in the supermarkeys etc, and the people didnt KNOW they needed salt, would they all die?

They would get it from their diet anyways, the same way our ancestors in the first millennium did.

I hope this question makes sense..I know people can get ill from a LACK of salt.

No, specifically they get ill from an ion deficiency, which won't be an issue if you eat normally.

 

[tansy]

Yes.




traces in the drinking water, from their meat, from their plants. And it isn't really salt that you need. You just really need the ions that compose salt, sodium and chloride.





........... yes.... are you serious with this? Sodium Chloride is a naturally occurring ionic molecule.





They would get it from their diet anyways, the same way our ancestors in the first millennium did.




No, specifically they get ill from an ion deficiency, which won't be an issue if you eat normally.

Great, thanks for your answers..I hadn't realised it was the ions that was what was really needed. It's only that I knew someone ages ago who was worried about their child having too much salt (which is a big issue), and cut so much out, that the child became ill. But perhaps then, it wasnt so much the lack of salt, as perhaps they werent having a balanced diet?

Anyhow, at least you cleared up the salt mystery for me

 

[Hespera]

Great, thanks for your answers..I hadn't realised it was the ions that was what was really needed. It's only that I knew someone ages ago who was worried about their child having too much salt (which is a big issue), and cut so much out, that the child became ill. But perhaps then, it wasnt so much the lack of salt, as perhaps they werent having a balanced diet?

Anyhow, at least you cleared up the salt mystery for me

There is lots more to learn! Amazon.com: Salt: A World History (9780142001615): Mark Kurlansky: Books

 

[Chesterton]

I don't have any answers, but it's a good question. Salt is really interesting. I read a historian once who claimed that more wars had been fought directly or indirectly because of salt than any other thing.

 

[AV1611VET]

Remember Lot's wife.

.
​

 

[laconicstudent]

Great, thanks for your answers..I hadn't realised it was the ions that was what was really needed. It's only that I knew someone ages ago who was worried about their child having too much salt (which is a big issue), and cut so much out, that the child became ill. But perhaps then, it wasnt so much the lack of salt, as perhaps they werent having a balanced diet?

Anyhow, at least you cleared up the salt mystery for me

Yeah. Salt is only important in that it is a common molecule composed of two very essential elements for action potentials in neurons. It isn't like it is specifically salt that we need. You could probably get away with never having salt, and taking a supplement instead. Although I don't think that is ideal.

 

[canehdianhotstuff]

Actually, you need salt. Specifically the salt NaCl. The sodium is needed in balance with the potassium. The balance maintained between the two of these enables a healthy cell to transfer nutrients and waste across the cell membrane.

The chlorine is used for making muriatic acid for the stomach (hydrochloric acid).

 

[tansy]

I don't have any answers, but it's a good question. Salt is really interesting. I read a historian once who claimed that more wars had been fought directly or indirectly because of salt than any other thing.

Yes, i know it's always been an important commodity...i suppose that's where the saying about someone being worth their salt comes from.

 

[Wiccan_Child]

Yes, i know it's always been an important commodity...i suppose that's where the saying about someone being worth their salt comes from.

It was (and is) more valuable for its preservative properties than what nutritional value it has.

 

[tansy]

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Yes, Lot's wife definitely suffered from an overdose of salt

 

[DaisyDay]

There is lots more to learn! Amazon.com: Salt: A World History (9780142001615): Mark Kurlansky: Books

Good book! Salt was valued as a commodity; we take it for granted now. The coast dwellers and salt miners traded it with the inlanders for other goods.

The word "salary" comes from the same root as "salt".

 

[tansy]

It was (and is) more valuable for its preservative properties than what nutritional value it has.

Ah, yes, of course, hadn't thought of that

 

[Hespera]

Today's soy sauce originated as a sauce made with fermented fish like they still sue a lot in SE Asia. Chinese put in soy beans too, then less fish, and then eliminated the fish completely.

 

[tansy]

Today's soy sauce originated as a sauce made with fermented fish like they still sue a lot in SE Asia. Chinese put in soy beans too, then less fish, and then eliminated the fish completely.

That's interesting, I never knew that..amazing what info comes out from an enquiry about salt lol.
Fermented fish sounds a bit yucky though..though I like soy sauce, but then as you say, there's no fish in it now.

 

[shinbits]

Luke 17:32

Remember Lot's wife.
​

"Hey Lot, could you please pass your wife?"
​

 

[tansy]

"Hey Lot, could you please pass your wife?"
[/indent]

(Not of course that such a fate is a laughing matter, I hastily add )

 

[Chesterton]

I love salt. I put salt on pizza, in beer, on sweet melons like watermelon and cantaloupe. I put salt on salt (eat it by itself sometimes.) Am I weird, or does anyone else like salt that much?

(If you suddenly stop seeing my posts here, you'll know what happened. )

 

[tansy]

I love salt. I put salt on pizza, in beer, on sweet melons like watermelon and cantaloupe. I put salt on salt (eat it by itself sometimes.) Am I weird, or does anyone else like salt that much?

(If you suddenly stop seeing my posts here, you'll know what happened. )

Well' if you live to 150, they'll have to donate your body to science
Actually, they wouldn't need to put you in formaldehyde..you'd be well enough preserved already LOL

 

[AV1611VET]

I love salt. I put salt on pizza, in beer, on sweet melons like watermelon and cantaloupe. I put salt on salt (eat it by itself sometimes.) Am I weird, or does anyone else like salt that much?

(If you suddenly stop seeing my posts here, you'll know what happened. )

Same here, except I don't drink beer, and I don't eat salt by myself; but I even put salt on ice cream.