Salt taste and disease

Abstract

Sodium appetite reflects the importance of sodium homeostasis and the relative scarcity of sodium for many terrestrial animals. Man, for various reasons, also seems to have a specific preference for salt which he consumes in excess of need, and this has been characterized as an important contributor to hypertension. Gustatory sensibility is necessary for the development of sodium appetite. Thus, research on the possible role salt taste sensitivity plays in controlling NaCl consumption in the sodium deficient rat was reviewed as a potential model for the study of salt taste and hypertension in man. Taste acuity experiments began first by examining salt taste thresholds. These studies found that thresholds were not altered by sodium deficiency in rat and the results in hypertensive humans were inconclusive. Threshold determinations may not reveal true sensitivity differences because they varied significantly across experiments and because they are restricted to a small portion of the intensity domain. When research was directed to suprathreshold stimuli, concentrations a rat or man might normally experience, the evidence suggested that hypertensive humans, like sodium-deficient rats, were less sensitive to the taste of salt. This reduced sensitivity may account, in part, for the fact that these two groups consume more salt.