The question: can salty foods make you hungrier, or should we ask the question if they could burn more calories? There have been some research done on this topic, and the results are rather interesting as they result to weight loss and hunger.
We are fed the warnings that we must reduce the quantity of salt in our diets to avoid problems like high blood pressure, and problems associated with that. However, there have been a research project that have concluded that there could be some people may want to restrict their sodium intake as the salt they consume could actually make them hungrier.
Simply put, a salty meal sounds just so much tastier. Think of McDonald’s that spray salt on their fries so you just want to eat more, and more.
Here we can also mention a relatively healthy snack, nuts. But the thing is that people will enjoy eating more nuts that are salted, instead of unsalted. Even though raw unsalted nuts will have a tasty, almost earthy taste, there is more satisfaction from eating salted nuts. Now, there are some exceptions. If you are like myself, then unsalted cashews and almonds might go down well. Still, normally one will go for the salted peanuts.
Therefore, if you struggle to control the amount of salted nuts you consume, and then it would be wise to go for unsalted. However, still watch the amount of unsalted cashews you are going to eat, as it could end up being counterproductive.
This is nothing new. There has been studies that have confirmed that people will eat more on a salty diet. Including the Russian study that pointed that if the salt content is increased people will be hungrier.
In addition to an increase in salt levels, what researchers did find, was that as the salt increases, people’s need to urine also raised. This even though the subjects in the studies drank less water.
In fact, your body uses urine to get rid of the extra sodium that is trapped inside your body. This is interesting as we were told that drinking more liquids would make you want to urine more, which will help to flush out the extra sodium in the body. Therefore, with the new knowledge it seems that having salted nuts at the bar might not be the thing to make you want to drink more. Simply since the research showed that eating salted foods did not make people thirsty. In fact, it made them less thirsty. Still, the subjects wanted to urine more, even though they drank less.
Now the main question – whether salty foods will make you hungrier and if they will help to burn more calories.
Simply put, human and camels have much in common. Both have the ability to produce water by just breaking down fat and muscle tissue.
This process occurs when a lot of salt is consumed. The levels of glucocorticoid hormone in your body raises, plus this triggers the breakdown of muscle tissues and fat, which in turn will releases water. This water will then aid the process of flushing out the extra sodium out of the body.
Now it seems that all these fancy metabolic activity burns extra energy and calories, which makes you hungry.
On the other hand, will increasing the amount of salt in the diet lead to more weight loss, is the question.
Therefore, as discussed, consuming more salt leads to the body breaking down fat and burn extra calories. I do not know, just maybe you might be wondering why a high-sodium diet would not be an easy way to lose weight.
Firstly it should be mentioned, that the increase in your appetite could easily lead you to eat a lot more calories than whatsoever extra calories your body is burning to deal with the salt. Nevertheless, there are many other reasons that this is a corrupt weight control strategy.
That is since the glucocorticoid hormones will cause your body to break down muscle in addition to fat, and that is sadly not the kind of weight you want to be losing. High levels of these types of hormones are also related to an amplified risk of osteoporosis and as well as type 2 diabetes.
Some concluding remarks
The research studies that are coming out are shedding more insights into our understanding of the impact of salt, if not confusing us a bit. In addition, it is bringing out more questions, and at times more questions than answers. However, it should be stated that it would be interesting to see if researchers can investigate whether an increase in fluid intake, irrespective if people are thirsty, could assist preventing the sodium-triggered bump in hormones that lead to your body to break down its own tissue.
Nonetheless, the new knowledge relating to the relation between salt, appetite and metabolism is thought provoking. In addition, contrary to some of the headlines that have been floating around salt will not help you lose weight – only water content.
In fact, if you consume more salt in your diet you will increase your appetite. Also, take note that those salty foods are every so often high in calories as well. Either way, eating excessively amounts of salt could easily lead you to take in more calories than you are allowed to have.
