What does sodium do for your body

What does sodium do for the body?

http://answers.ask.com/Health/Other/what_does_sodium_do_for_the_body

Sodium basically keeps your cells and therefore your body from losing water. Too little and you can dehydrate and in severe cases can cause your brain to swell. Too much can cause long term problems like high blood pressure.

How does sodium affect the body?

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_does_sodium_affect_the_body

But a pinch and a dash can quickly add up to unhealthy levels of sodium, especially when many foods already contain more than enough sodium. About 11 percent of the sodium in the average U.S. diet comes from adding salt or other sodium-cont…

Is sodium good for you?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090819002422AA2jgYl

Quick Facts… Sodium is one factor in the development of high blood pressure. Sodium is a component of salt; table salt is 40 percent sodium and 60 percent chloride. Most foods contain some sodium because it is naturally present. Several f…

Related Questions Answered on Y!Answers

How does sodium effect your body in terms of weight gain? And how quickly can you sweat it out?

Q: I know it causes high blood pressure and all. I am really just wondering what it does in terms of weight gain and for someone that is trying to lessen their body fat percentage. And also, how quickly does your body lose sodium if you are running or doing some other exercise activity?

A: Sodium intake does nothing about body fat. Any weight gain associated with sodium has to do with water retention. Water can be lost and gained daily, as much as 5 pounds in a singel work out. The thing is, if you sweat off 5 pounds of water, you have done nothing about fat except burn a few calories. Suppose you jog for 15 minutes and burn of a couple hundred calories. That’s the equivilant of two cokes, or, maybe a half a Twinkie. Water weight should be disregarded on a weight loss regimen. In fact, water helps move food through the digestive system and eliminate waste. Water also helps the body absorb the nutrients in needs to stay healthy.

Does too much sodium cause your body to be sensitive?

Q: Yesterday I ate alot of junk food. I ate 2 slices of pizza, 1 can of squirt soda, lot of chips with 7 layer bean dip. Today I woke up and my body is sensitive. Is this what sodium does? I woke up bloated too, I couldn’t wear my rings. Plain and simple, I feet fat and my skin/body is sensitive. Can anyone relate?

A: sodium makes you retain water, and too much can dehydrate you. dehydration may lead you to have headaches and sensitivity to light. i am not sure why your skin is sensitive but drinking water should help.

Which of these does a high sodium intake do to water in your body?

Q: I’ve read from various pages that high sodium intake causes both water retention in the body and water depletion from cells. I fail to see logically how these can both be true? heh. So… which is true, which is false and or how?

A: Ok the reason that high sodium intake causes both water retention and depletion from cells is that sodium is essentially like a water sponge. In a biological system it will draw water from the surroundings to itself. Within your body there are three fluid compartments 1)inside the cells, 2)inside the blood vessels, and 3) between the cells and blood vessels (the tissues).Eating a lot of salt raises the salt content of your blood vessels, which in turn draws water from your cells into your blood vessels. Blood vessels are designed to only hold so much water; your arteries are pretty water tight, but veins are loose and floppy and do not hold water well under pressure. This allows fluid to leak out into the tissues. Your lymphatic system is designed to catch fluid that leaks out into the tissues but it can only do so much and if overwhelmed you see tissue swelling aka “edema”A great example of this is in a very very obese person. Their weight not only causes high blood pressure but it physically squeezes the blood vessels including the veins causing tissue edema. Their lymph system is overwhelmed and you see swollen doughy legs.I’ve attached a few articles if you’d like to know more. I hope this helps.