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10-25-09, 01:32 AM
Hemprider:
What do you die of when you drink it? Dehydration. Ponder this for a moment. Salt has such a dehydrating effect that you can drink a gallon of water laced with it and still die of dehydration.
The arguments made here are not about the toxicity of sodium, per se, but about concentrations. It's really about the sea water not being isotonic with the body's fluids. Nearly anything necessary becomes deleterious if the concentration is high enough: oxygen, CO2 (necessary for respiratory impulse, but hypercapnia is also a problem), sodium...there's a balance somewhere between none and way too much.
I am happy you do not need to supplement during your rides, but hyponatremia is a very real problem affecting marathon-type athletes who replace fluids but not sodium. It just so happens that NaCl is the most abundant source of sodium for us.
What do you die of when you drink it? Dehydration. Ponder this for a moment. Salt has such a dehydrating effect that you can drink a gallon of water laced with it and still die of dehydration.
The arguments made here are not about the toxicity of sodium, per se, but about concentrations. It's really about the sea water not being isotonic with the body's fluids. Nearly anything necessary becomes deleterious if the concentration is high enough: oxygen, CO2 (necessary for respiratory impulse, but hypercapnia is also a problem), sodium...there's a balance somewhere between none and way too much.
I am happy you do not need to supplement during your rides, but hyponatremia is a very real problem affecting marathon-type athletes who replace fluids but not sodium. It just so happens that NaCl is the most abundant source of sodium for us.