<center>![Salt superhero.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmT4YeBTa1aBwXqvLxqgnkCTVACY7Y5PSdffNEu9RJ6krr/Salt%20superhero.png)</center>

Since I’ve been making a lot of posts on comic book superheroes of late (Definitely check them out if you haven’t), it only make sense for me to write about the superhero of the food world –Salt.

That’s right, Salt is the most underrated food superhero in the food world, often doing the hard work at preserving food, making some food palatable or taste better but rarely gets the recognition it deserves. Without it, French fries are bland, potato chips are boring and chocolate chips loses its pop. 

Before we go on any further, let’s just be clear that when I talk about salt, I’m referring to the most famous and abundant one which is in the form of Sodium Cholride (NaCl). The reason for that is because almost all of the studies done on salt either focuses on Sodium Chloride or that the effect of other form of salts doesn’t have the same kick and ability.
That said, let’s dive right in shall we?

**The craving for salt is an evolutionary protective mechanism**

<center>![biology.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmV3ynCmkzfFndR4RDDrbgrgqTdWnTjGoeTyqPRrKaP2vv/biology.jpg)</center>
Picture Source: [Sciencedirect](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982213004181)

Sodium (Na) is an important electrolyte in your body and from my experience in the hospital, I would say it is one of the most important if not the most important electrolyte in your body. 

Just like superheroes in comic book, Salt is extremely important in ensuring balance and an optimal functionality of the human body. That’s because Sodium is pretty much needed for every cellular metabolisms in your body. From generating nerve impulses to regulating blood pressure, we need it to ensure that our signalling pathway and metabolism is kept in check. Not having enough or having too much of it causes all sort of nasty conditions.

Now, unless you live near the ocean, salt is really hard to find as you go inland and because of that, our early ancestor’s’ biology has evolved to protect ourselves from salt deprivation by making us develop a taste for it so that we go find it and consume it through our diet.

That’s why fast food products are loaded with them and that’s why we love fast food.

**Salt makes your food smell better**

You may have already know this because of how meat were kept before the days of refrigerator. The ions inside the salt are attracted to water content in the food, making it easier for volatile compound (compound that contributes to a food’s aroma) escape into the air, leaving the food. This is another way of making your food taste better which is by making them smell better.

**Salt makes your food taste sweeter**

That’s right. This is also why those fast food meat taste sweeter.

*“Wait, how do hell does salt do that?”*

Salt makes your food taste sweeter because it reduces the perception of other conflicting flavours especially bitter flavours, allowing sweet tasting to go on full-fledge. Scientist don’t have the exact mechanism figured out but they suggest that it is due to the cancelling effect of sodium binding on the taste buds which prevents or reduces the binding of bitter-flavoured chemicals on the taste buds.

Furthermore, the transport of sugar through the cell relies on sodium-activated channels which means that a pinch of salt can give a burst of sweetness when taken together.

**Salt makes pretty much everything more palatable**

That’s because Salt doesn’t just make your food become salty, it does way more than that especially with regards to flavour perception! 

The effect it can have at altering our taste perception can be so perplexedly interesting that if you’re thinking of consuming a tasteless and unpalatable medication, a pinch of salt does the job better at masking the taste than a spoonful of sugar!

![bitter medicine.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmZFRUXM6NnHQ6BSU3a5no43cM4jWDeqPvP462unc7L5Wn/bitter%20medicine.jpg)
Picture source: [ncbi](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12180534)

Furthermore, another study also found that when given salt and bitter compound together but in a way that the two does not mingle on your tongue, your brain still perceives the overall taste as less bitter. Some study suggest that the anti-bitterness effect comes from how your brain interprets multiple taste stimuli when there’s a presence of salt. Salt pretty much reprograms how your brain perceive the flavour of everything else.

In fact, adding salt can entirely change a dish – Volunteers in a 1985 study said that salted split pea soup does not only taste sweeter and less bitter than the unsalted version, they also said that it was also thicker and fuller, altering what food scientist’s call *Mouthfeel*

![Salt fullness.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmPtDuGGj7EdovTxYbiM271LKegYgj3Lcf5LyeNj7VvUdB/Salt%20fullness.jpg)
Picture source: [ncbi](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK50958/#_ch3_s7_)

So if you’re not happy with your meal, there’s a good chance that a pinch of salt, might do the trick. After all, there’s a reason why it’s there on the table.

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Thank you

References:

* https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982213004181
* https://www.researchgate.net/publication/14042126_Salt_enhances_flavour_by_suppressing_bitterness_5
* https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12180534
* https://www.seriouseats.com/2016/07/how-do-we-taste-salt-sour-acid-sweet-bitter-flavor.html
* https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK50958/#_ch3_s7_