A new study led by researchers from Florida International University (FIU) reveals a mechanism linking the pesticide DDT to Alzheimer's disease.
Aug 17, 2022
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Dietary salt substitutes lower the risk of heart attack, stroke, and death from all causes and cardiovascular disease, finds a pooled data analysis of the available evidence, published online in the journal Heart.
Aug 09, 2022
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DEAR MAYO CLINIC: As a woman in my 40s, I've experienced a wide variety of diet fads come and go. One week I read it's bad to eat carbs. The next week, it's full-fat dairy products. I've seen articles that say I should only ...
Aug 03, 2022
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Women who eat bananas, avocados and salmon could reduce the negative effects of salt in the diet, according to a study published today in the European Heart Journal, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). ...
Jul 22, 2022
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Restricting salt intake is considered a key component of heart failure treatment, but restricting it too much may actually worsen the outcomes for people with a common form of the condition, suggests research published online ...
Jul 18, 2022
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A recent increase in fatal sodium nitrite poisonings has some health experts calling for stricter regulation of the substance. Sodium nitrite is a white salt commonly used in curing meat. But in recent years, it's also being ...
Jul 18, 2022
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In recent years, cannabidiol, a compound derived from cannabis plants, has begun popping up more and more in everyday life. Now legal in most U.S. states, the cannabinoid commonly known as CBD can be found in supermarkets ...
Jul 15, 2022
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People who add extra salt to their food at the table are at higher risk of dying prematurely from any cause, according to a study of more than 500,000 people, published in the European Heart Journal today.
Jul 11, 2022
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An estimated 2.5m deaths each year could be prevented globally if individuals cut back their salt consumption to the recommended daily intake of less than five grams, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Now, ...
Jul 05, 2022
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Abnormalities in the proteins responsible for transmitting electrical signals in the heart likely cause abnormal heart rhythms in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), shows a study published in eLife.
Jun 28, 2022
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Sodium (pronounced /ˈsoʊdiəm/) is a metallic element with a symbol Na (from Latin natrium or Arabic natrun) and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal and is a member of the alkali metals within "group 1" (formerly known as ‘group IA’). It has only one stable isotope, 23Na.
Elemental sodium was first isolated by Sir Humphry Davy in 1806 by passing an electric current through molten sodium hydroxide. Elemental sodium does not occur naturally on Earth, but quickly oxidizes in air and is violently reactive with water, so it must be stored in an inert medium, such as a liquid hydrocarbon. The free metal is used for some chemical synthesis and heat transfer applications.
Sodium ion is soluble in water in nearly all of its compounds, and is thus present in great quantities in the Earth's oceans and other stagnant bodies of water. In these bodies it is mostly counterbalanced by the chloride ion, causing evaporated ocean water solids to consist mostly of sodium chloride, or common table salt. Sodium ion is also a component of many minerals.
Sodium is an essential element for all animal life and for some plant species. In animals, sodium ions are used in opposition to potassium ions, to allow the organism to build up an electrostatic charge on cell membranes, and thus allow transmission of nerve impulses when the charge is allowed to dissipate by a moving wave of voltage change. Sodium is thus classified as a “dietary inorganic macro-mineral” for animals. Sodium's relative rarity on land is due to its solubility in water, thus causing it to be leached into bodies of long-standing water by rainfall. Such is its relatively large requirement in animals, in contrast to its relative scarcity in many inland soils, that herbivorous land animals have developed a special taste receptor for sodium ion.
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