# Excess sodium = Excess load on heart

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excess-sodium-excess-load-on-heart/135399>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 5, 2002, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excess-sodium-excess-load-on-heart/135399 "2002-11-05T17:25:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Fuel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Fuel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuel)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2002, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excess-sodium-excess-load-on-heart/135399/1 "2002-11-05T17:25:06Z")

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if i were to eat twice the daily alottment of sodium and kept water intake constant and fairly low, how much extra load would this put on the heart? i’m not sure what kind of units and values i am looking for, but if someone could put it into laymen’s terms, i would appreciate.

thanks.

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**Author:** ![Nishroch\_Order](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Nishroch\_Order](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nishroch_Order)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2002, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excess-sodium-excess-load-on-heart/135399/2 "2002-11-05T17:51:23Z")

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Erm…i assume that by sodium you mean sodium chloride right?  
_cos if it was pure sodium you’re talking abt theres gonna be so explosions going on…_  
I can’t answer your question by the way, cos i’m not up to it =P  
Sorry

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**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2002, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/excess-sodium-excess-load-on-heart/135399/3 "2002-11-05T17:59:38Z")

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I can’t give you a specific answer but there are mechanisms that would probably come into play to cause you too pee out the extra sodium before your heart was strained.

For example, there are hormones whose role is to cause sodium loss in the kidneys eg. atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and others. They would be released as your blood volume increased as result of the additional salt (see below). Once you’d peed out the extra salt and your blood volume was corrected, they’d no longer be released.

Note that even if you don’t ingest extra water, the extra salt in your blood stream would pull water out of your body’s cells and also from the so-called interstitial space, thereby increasing your blood volume and the potential “strain” on your heart. But, as mentioned, if you’re normal, you’d pee out the salt before this happened.