[at-l] Drinking Sea Water......

[sloetoe@yahoo.com (Sloetoe)]

Uncerimoniously lifted from a Yahoo site, for your [portential]
edification...

Humans can't drink salt water because the kidneys can only make
urine that is less salty than salt water. Therefore, to get rid
of all the excess salt taken in by drinking salt water, you have
to urinate more water than you drank, so you die of dehydration.

As is so often the case, this answer raises some new questions.
How much salt is too much? Salt, like water, is a key ingredient
of life on earth. The right amount of sodium chloride (common
table salt) is essential for human health. In fact, our blood is
0.9% salt and our body weight is about 1/400 salt. Living cells
depend on sodium chloride to maintain the chemical balances
required for complex processes and reactions that take place at
the microscopic level.

Insufficient salt intake can lead to fatigue, illness, and
death, although it is more common nowadays to hear about health
problems associated with too much salt. According to the Salt
Institute's encyclopedic site about salt, the National Academy
of Sciences' recommended daily dose is 500 mg/day -- though most
Americans consume closer to 3,500 mg/day. (A teaspoon of salt
equals about 2,000mg.)

Optimal salt intake varies -- it depends on a person's genetic
makeup, where they live, how active they are, and other
lifestyle factors. However, nobody, except for a saltwater fish,
is designed to drink saltwater.

=====
Spatior! Nitor! Nitor! Tempero!
   Pro Pondera Et Meliora.

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com