Everybody's been told by her or his primary-care doc that excessive salt is bad for you. High blood pressure, heart disease and all that.
Yet, we crave it.
And researchers at the University of Iowa have discovered why. Turns out, salt is something of nature's Prozac -- an antidepressant.
When researchers deprived rats of sodium cholide, the critters started shying away from activities they normally enjoy, like drinking a sugary substance or pressing a bar that stimulates a pleasant sensation in their brains. That, folks, is case-book depressive behavior.
Give the rats a hit of salt, though, and they perk right up. Could it be that rats, and by extension, humans, get addicted to salt?
Kim Johnson, a UI psychologist and author of the study, says "salt need and cravings may be linked to the same brain pathways as those related to drug addiction and abuse."
