Salt

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Salt is a dietary mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride that is essential for animal life, but toxic to most land plants. Salt flavor is one of the basic tastes, an important preservative and a popular food seasoning.

Salt for human consumption is produced in different forms: unrefined salt (such as sea salt), refined salt (table salt), and iodized salt. It is a crystalline solid, white, pale pink or light gray in color, normally obtained from sea water or rock deposits. Edible rock salts may be slightly grayish in color because of this mineral content.

Chloride and sodium ions, the two major components of salt, are necessary for the survival of all known living creatures, including humans. Salt is involved in regulating the water content (fluid balance) of the body. Salt cravings may be caused by trace mineral deficiencies as well as by a deficiency of sodium chloride itself. Conversely, overconsumption of salt increases the risk of health problems, including high blood pressure.

For more information about Salt, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

News tagged with salt

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Solar power generation around the clock

Technology / Energy

Nov 05, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (29) | 15

(PhysOrg.com) -- A Californian company, SolarReserve, is developing a solar power system that can store seven hours' worth of solar energy by focusing mirrors onto millions of gallons of molten salt, allowing ...

Salt Water System Could Generate Hydrogen

Physics / Soft Matter

Mar 18, 2009 | 3.9 / 5 (31) | 18

(PhysOrg.com) -- The idea of generating hydrogen from salt water has often been claimed to work effectively. However, the systems proposed so far generally require a much greater energy input than the energy ...

Renewable Energy Made by Mixing Salt and Fresh Water

Technology / Energy

Sep 02, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (27) | 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- When a river flows into the sea, the location is more than just a haven for water commerce. The mixing of fresh and salt water that occurs at an estuary also dissipates energy, as the different ...

Scientists offer new theory for largest known mass extinction

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Mar 30, 2009 | 4 / 5 (20) | 5

The largest mass extinction in the history of the earth could have been triggered off by giant salt lakes, whose emissions of halogenated gases changed the atmospheric composition so dramatically that vegetation ...

Salt and Paper Battery May One Day Replace Lithium Batteries

Technology / Energy

Sep 15, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (17) | 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- Salt and paper battery can be used in many low-power devices, such as medical implants, RFID tags, wireless sensors and smart cards. This battery uses a thin-film which makes it an attractive ...

Researchers are first to simulate the binding of molecules to a protein

Biology /

Jun 30, 2008 | 4.4 / 5 (17) | 4

You may not know what it is, but you burn more than your body weight of it every day. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a tiny molecule that packs a powerful punch, is the primary energy source for most of your ...

Wastewater produces electricity and desalinates water

Space & Earth / Environment

Aug 06, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (16) | 1

A process that cleans wastewater and generates electricity can also remove 90 percent of salt from brackish water or seawater, according to an international team of researchers from China and the U.S.

New Evidence Shakes up Perceptions of Salt

Medicine & Health / Health

Oct 15, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (14) | 5

(PhysOrg.com) -- As the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans are currently under development and regulations surrounding sodium consumption are being considered, an analysis of evidence to be released online ...

'Blue energy' seems feasible and offers considerable benefits

Technology / Energy

Oct 30, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (10) | 0

Generating energy on a large scale by mixing salt and fresh water is both technically possible and practical. The worldwide potential for this clean form of energy - 'blue energy' or 'blue electricity' - is enormous. However, ...

Don't worry so much about limiting sodium, researchers say

Medicine & Health / Health

Oct 20, 2009 | 3.6 / 5 (12) | 3

University of California-Davis nutrition researchers are challenging the decades-old conventional wisdom that we should watch our salt.

Study suggests salt might be 'nature's antidepressant'

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

Mar 10, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (8) | 0

Most people consume far too much salt, and a University of Iowa researcher has discovered one potential reason we crave it: it might put us in a better mood.

Receptor activated exclusively by glutamate discovered on tongue

Medicine & Health / Research

Oct 09, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (8) | 1

One hundred years ago, Kikunae Ikeda discovered the flavour-giving properties of glutamate, a non essential amino acid traditionally used to enhance the taste of many fermented or ripe foods, such as ripe ...

Salt block unexpectedly stretches in new experiments

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

Jun 24, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (7) | 4

To stretch a supply of salt generally means using it sparingly.

Inland ants prefer salty snacks to sweet

Biology /

Oct 27, 2008 | 4.4 / 5 (7) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Ants prefer salty snacks to sugary ones, at least in inland areas that tend to be salt-poor, according to a new study published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of ...