Salt consumption creates addiction

• April 25, 2024

The cocaine It is a very powerful drug, capable of significantly altering the psychophysiological state of those who consume it. Your ability to decrease the hungry and the fatigue and stimulating muscle activity has been widely recognized. This effect is due to the increase in the acidity of the blood , from uric acid , and the stimulation of the process of carbohydrate degradation to obtain energy in the tissues. As with other drugs, the effects of a minimal dose vary with the mental state and physical well-being of the addicted person.

According to information published in neurologia.org , the research published in the magazine Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, shows how some genes of rodents are regulated by the hypothalamus , a part of the brain that controls the balance of salt, water, energy, reproduction and other rhythms.

Scientists of the Duke University Medical Center and of the University of Melbourne , they discovered that the need for Salt it was the same as the one related to addiction to cocaine or to opiates as the heroin .

With brain images, they observed that before the consumption of drug or of Salt there were profound changes in certain nerve cells of the hypothalamus ; the neurons increased in size and quantity, as well as two specific proteins related to the addiction . For researchers, the Salt active proteins associated with pleasure such as dopamine, as well as orexin .

According Derek Denton , co-author of the work, "we have shown that a classic instinct, the desire to consume Salt , has the same neural organization that originates addiction to the opiates and the cocaine ”.

In this regard, the portal excelsior.com , reported that according to the neurobiologist Wolfgang Liedtke , the finding "could lead to a new understanding of addictions and the detrimental consequences that foods that favor obesity contain too much sodium. "

Video Medicine: 9 Signs You're Eating Too Much Salt (April 2024).