Re: Sodium Homestasis

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In article <60.4201.7295.0N1FE189@canrem.com> writes:

> Animals which exhibit "salt appetite" are those for whom such a
> mechanism has had important survival value during their evolution.

Perhaps, but I came across an interesting comment in
_Much depends on dinner : the extraordinary history and
mythology, allure and obsessions, perils and taboos, of an
ordinary meal_
by Margaret Visser (McClelland and Stewart, Toronto, 1986)

Visser comments that the human craving for salt seems to
be correlated to the rise of agriculture and hence a
diet consisting largely of vegetable matter. Meat eating
peoples don't seem so concerned with salt. Also she
observes that carnivores aren't frequenters of salt licks
except to predate upon salt-licking herbivores.
Thus the need for salt may depend strongly on the diet.

I don't have the book with me, but I can probably find
a reference in the bibliography tonight if you are interested.

Tom Clarke

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