> Salt tastes good. Salt tastes good because the plants do not normally contain sodium, so any terrestrial animal whose food includes plants must find separate

> Salt tastes good. Salt tastes good because the plants do not normally contain sodium, so any terrestrial animal whose food includes plants must find separate sources of salt. Only some obligate carnivores which eat only other animals do not care about sodium, so they may have little or no sensitivity to salt. > We have evolved in salty conditions like by the sea for millions of years. At least the ancestors of the branch of fishes from which the terrestrial vertebrates have evolved, if not the ancestors of all bony fishes or perhaps also the ancestors of all vertebrates, have lived in brackish water, which was much less salty than the ocean water. The extracellular water in the bodies of the terrestrial vertebrates, including humans, is still a brackish water and it is likely that this is a heritage from the kind of environment to which our ancestors were adapted. This difference in salinity between our internal water and the ocean makes us unable to live by drinking sea water. In a healthy human, the kidneys will maintain an adequate concentration of sodium in the blood even when you eat too much salt, by excreting it. It is less clear whether eating too much salt during many years will not stress the kidneys too much, so that they will no longer be able to keep the blood concentration of sodium low enough, which leads to high blood pressure. Especially for older women who take blood pressure medication for many years, there is an opposite danger, the kidneys may no longer be able to retain enough sodium and potassium in the blood, excreting too much. This may cause hyponatremia or hypokalemia (too low sodium or potassium concentration in the blood), which are extremely dangerous and they may lead to death if not diagnosed correctly in time.