During my college days, a friend had the hiccups, and I told him about the spoonful-of-sugar cure. He had no sugar and decided to try it with salt. Well, he stopped hiccupping all right… it’s hard to hiccup when you’re gagging, choking and coughing uncontrollably.
I know it doesn’t matter to you, but I don’t believe your story. Not a word. “Young and foolish” doesn’t cover trying to eat a huge pile of dry salt. A toddler has enough sense not to do this. Gobbling up a mass of dry salt and then “chewing it” is not something any human being would do. Your story is utterly nonsensical unless the person doing this was literally brain damaged which you are not.
From what I’ve observed of human behavior, I have no trouble believing it.
Yeah that was a weird post. I have an overly sensitive BS meter and this one didn’t even trip off a single beep.
College kids do much crazier things than this on a daily basis. 
I mean, did you ever watch Fear Factor? This is basically nothing compared to that.
I mean, I’m assuming he did it as a stunt, meant for public consumption, not as a genuine attempt to obtain free nutrition… right?
It’s college, I’m assuming he was drunk. Isn’t everyone perpetually drunk in college?
No, the claim is that the free food was gone, so wanting something free to eat (which he felt he was due) he starts gobbling up dry salt. He gave no indication he was out of his mind on drugs when this happened.
Yum! Free food!
Food’s gone!
Want to eat something!
Salt!
Eat dry salt!
Chew dry salt!
I don’t blame you for not believing me. The story does sound preposterous. The key point is that I was not gobbling it up. I opened a one pound container of salt and just poured it into my mouth. I did not go back for seconds or anything.
And as was mentioned, both alcohol and an audience were involved.
Bah, I ate a handful of black pepper once on a weak dare (not even a double-dog). It was unpleasant, but I got it down because, well, I’d said I would. Could just as easily have been salt had the darer picked up that shaker instead. Ever seen the dumbshits on youtube that eat the stupid-hot pepper sauce? Salt’s not outwardly dangerous like, say, arsenic–it’s a condiment fer frith’s sake.
[quote=“dsmith42, post:27, topic:553376”]
As I figured.
Also, check out the related videos.
Any questions?
You pointed out the inherent ridiculous of his actions. That’s what makes it funny.
He probably thought it would be funny at the time he did it. He was making a ridiculously over the top statement about his disappointment at the lack of free food, for comedic effect.
Since most people haven’t eaten large quantities of pure salt in single sittings, it’s not entirely implausible that he didn’t anticipate just how unpleasant the experience would be.
Goodnight.
[quote=“Inigo_Montoya, post:28, topic:553376”]
I prefer the cinnamon ones 
Oh, I’ve no question it’s readily lethal. I was just saying it’s not obviously dangerous in the same way that something marked “POISON” or a large mammal with long claws and thick fur would be.
I totally get why he did this. College. I’ve done similar things.
I just came across this thread and decided to complete an in-depth YouTube search see how many crazy salt eaters I could find… within 30 minutes I had compiled over 30 videos of people either eating salt straight or chugging salt water and presumably all surviving without serious medical consequence.
Exhibits A-E:
Any thoughts?
When I was a kid in Texas, air conditioning was practically unknown.In most work places that were sweat intensive (warehouses, cotton gins, truck loading and unloading, etc., etc.) the employer provided salt pills that were usually dispensed by pushing a button or turning a knob. People believed that sweating deprived one of salt and that a certain level of salt was required to keep one alive and kicking. I remember seeing people eat these salt pills as if they were candy; I did it myself on occasion. I kind of liked the taste. I don’t know if these tablets were pure salt but given the taste, I suspect they were. I’ve often wondered how many people were made sick by over ingestion of these tablets or even if ODing on the things was possible. If people did OD on them, would vomiting clear one’s system enough to prevent permanent damage?
It does and it is. Working in the heat for hours is one of the few instances where you do need to pay attention to ingesting the proper amount of electrolytes (not too much or conversely too little)
But it worked 
What:confused:
The Minimum Recorded Lethal Dose (1g/kg) does seem to be pretty far-fetched in light of all of these videos… Toxic maybe, but lethal probably not.
To be sure, it’s clearly dangerous and potentially lethal, but it’s possible that we’re not giving our bodies enough credit. I spoke with a few family friend doctors, including one long time Urologist, and they all laughed off a nice little handful of salt as a very stupid though not incredibly dangerous proposition. We need an expert to enter into the arena…
Also of interest:
http://my.menshealth.com/exclusive-content/30-saltiest-foods-america?page=0,5
According to this, P.F. Chang’s Wok Charred Beef packs a whopping 10,000mg of sodium, so nearly 25g’s of salt. Order two of those bad boys and, according to our toxicity data, you might end up salt poisoned. Would they be criminally negligent for allowing you to order 3?
One more interesting discovery-- the world record for spam eating currently stands at over 6 pbs in 10 minutes. With 1,400mg of sodium per 100gs… lets call 460gs a pound…
Correct me if I’m wrong, but that translates to well in excess of 80 grams of salt (4 tablespoons), right? Wouldn’t similar feats force competitors to run up against dangerous salt levels?