Cannot believe I’m making this post but PSA! The “salt lick test” is not a medical test for sodium deficiency, it’s what some random fuck on this site calls eating as much salt as they think tastes good. Please stop taking medical advice from this site dear fuck. Sodium is not something our bodies adjust flavor to in response to how much we need it. Hypertension (high sodium, high bp) is much more common than hypotension (low salt, low bp) and can kill you. Low blood pressure, while sometimes uncomfortable, is a much less dangerous state. Do not just eat salt until you’re tired of eating salt. Fuck.
It is worded as though the OP learned this from a doctor, or at least someone that knows something about nutrition. “Why didn’t I learn about (nonexistent thing)????” Search for ‘salt lick test’ online. There’s nothing, because this isn’t a thing. And if you learn about nutrition, and the way sodium works in the body, it’s pretty obviously not a thing.
I don’t want people to feel unintelligent for believing posts like this, though. It’s not everyone’s responsibility to know about hypertension. It’s not your fault if you think this is sound advice. It is the responsibility of OP to not spread medical misinformation. They might honestly think they’re helping people, but this is not the way to do it. All they are doing is further harming people that are worried about their health.
Yes, some people are sodium deficient. My close friend and I have low sodium and low blood pressure and eat as much salt as we want because of that, but surprise I guess? We don’t like licking pure salt. That’s why we’re low. Because we don’t like to eat that much. Our bodies sometimes have very helpful ways of telling us when we need certain nutrients, but sometimes we have to use the brain part of our bodies as well.
The reason this upset me so much is how many people I saw in the notes saying “oh no, I never get tired of eating salt, I must be very salt deficient!” and bc OP acted like this is a standard practice, and bc this website is full of impressionable people that just trust too much, they’ll probably start consuming way too much and sufferhealthrisks. And it feels like a great example of how misinformation is so easy to avoid spreading, but for whatever fucking reason, people keep doing it anyway.
ALT
ALT
