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Because it increases the volume of blood inside the veins and arteries. This happens due to a chemical characteristic of sodium chloride (table salt): it attracts water molecules to itself. When a person ingests too much salt, this substance accumulates in the blood and in the extracellular fluid – that is, outside the body’s cells. Sodium increases the affinity of these fluids with water and the organism, in turn, has to preserve the usual proportion between sodium and salt in this extracellular space: this is what scientists call osmotic balance. “To maintain balance, the body ends up retaining more water and this absorption increases the amount of blood circulating in the vessels. This raises the person’s blood pressure”, says physiologist Nanci Amaral Rebouças, from USP. To be able to supply the body with water, there are two ways.
The first, obviously, is to drink it – so that it is quickly absorbed. If this does not happen, the second comes into action naturally: antidiuretic hormones (which prevent the production of urine) are released by the brain, making the kidneys retain more water. “That’s why people feel more thirsty when they eat very salty foods”, says Nanci.