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Why Would a Person Crave Salt?

Human beings crave certain foods and beverages for a variety of reasons. The body needs many nutrients and elements to sustain life and basic function. People meet most of these needs with the matter they eat and drink. Subsequently, they never feel a direct craving for many of their specific physiological requirements. However, if the body is lacking in a critical element, the deficiency will stimulate a craving, to encourage the person to compensate for the needed element. Occasionally, the brain stimulates craving impulses for reasons other than innate survival requirements.

  1. Physiological Need

    • At its basic chemical level, salt is a sodium compound. Human bodies need sodium to survive, but they do not produce enough to live on, without dietary compensation. Until recently, sodium, or salt, was not as easy to come by as it is in the 21st century. As Richard E. Barrans Jr., Ph.D., M.Ed. from the University of Wyoming explains, human bodies have not evolved as quickly as food-processing technology. Humans crave salt because it is not easy to come by in nature. A persistent craving for salt is the body's way of making sure it consumes enough to function properly. Salt cravings have yet to evolve to a degree commensurate with salt availability.

    Habit

    • Scientists have long documented the link between food cravings and a person's habits. If a person consumes a salty snack every day at the same time, he is likely to crave the salty flavor as their set snack time approaches. Humans are creatures of habit and naturally repeat behaviors at regular intervals. By conditioning their bodies with regular salt intake, people encourage their bodies to crave the salt at that same interval.

    Compensation for Sudden Reduced Intake

    • A 2010 USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion study shows that sudden decreases in salt-intake are likely to precipitate salt cravings. Much like routine salt consumption at a set interval will encourage a craving, so, too, does a sudden drop in salt intake. The body may initially read the decrease as a detrimental loss before it has time to recognize stable, healthy function at the reduced level of sodium-intake. It is the same physiological function that compels a person who switches to a new diet to crave the food she used to consume.

    To Encourage Water-Intake

    • Salt naturally attaches to water molecules. This is the quality that makes salt a powerful food preservative. The salt traps the food's moisture, keeping it from drying-out. Similarly, it is why excessive salt consumption can cause a person to bloat, or hold onto more water than is necessary for healthy bodily function. Salt cravings encourage not only salt intake, but water intake, as well. Psychologists recognize this type of thirst as hypovolemic thirst, when a person starts to crave salt to boost both salt and water consumption. This is the reason salt is a common ingredient in sports drinks. Consuming salt naturally stimulates a person to consume more water.

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