Sodium rutin extends lifespan and health span in mice by 10%

To which extent does the brain not repair neurons already?

I don't expect anything in particular. As I wrote, I've tried it and it doesn't do anything amazing. I had previously tried it on recommendation from a sleep specialist before I read about the idea that it reverses metabolic damage from sleep deprivation.

Over the counter supplements usually seem to have way too large a dose, and I've read they can be very inconsistent too.

The point is, I read this amazing study, and it may be somehow incorrect or even fraudulent, but it is what it is. Sleep deprivation kills. The claim is that via, not one, but any of several substances, that can be reversed, at least in lab insects/animals.

I definitely am not advising anyone take any supplements. I want to clearly state that I don't experience any particular beneficial effects from anything I've tried.

I just am saying that uncovering the reason why sleep is needed has to have world changing applications, or end up as a spectacular debunking, it seems to me.

What's with the exact 450 mcg recommendation?

What happens if I take more?

There are many but the most studied one is skq1. It is marketed as eye drops for slowing age related eye diseases such as macular degeneration. It is also marketed as cosmetics to be applied on the skin as an anti wrinkle agent. Of course those uses are not enough geroprotective. The oral pill is in the work and will very probably be the breakthrough of the century though, it will take ~a decade before being FDA approved. However indeed the currently marketed cosmetics are the same active substance and can be off-label ingested orally (or sublingually). Anybody doing that should read the pubmed papers about Skq1 in order to make an informed decision.

The other contender is Fullerene C60 which is bioavailable when diluted in oil (e.g olive oil) however it doesn't cross the blood brain barrier and hence won't stop your current neurodegeneration.

There are also sex differences in sodium handling ability.

Older women who have taken blood pressure medication for many years, e.g. 10 to 20 years, have risks of losing the ability to control well the concentrations of sodium and potassium in the blood.

If they follow a low-sodium diet, they have a high risk of hyponatremia (too little sodium in the body). Depending on the diet, hypokalemia (too little potassium in the body) is also possible.

If these conditions are not diagnosed promptly, severe illness or even death are the consequence.

Unfortunately, I was not aware of these risks. My mother belonged to this risk group, but nobody knew this and her periodic blood tests were perfect, because they included many other tests, except the sodium and potassium concentrations in blood, which are mandatory to detect this problem.

My mother had very serious problems because hyponatremia was detected too late, so I believe that more people should become aware of this risk.

There are a lot of old women taking medication for high blood pressure, so all should know that a periodic cheap test for sodium in blood can easily prevent reaching a stage when complete recovery becomes difficult or impossible.

Also, any low-sodium diet should actually measure or compute how much salt you eat, because too low sodium is even more dangerous than too high sodium.

People sweat regularly without any noticeable moisture droplets etc. As long as evaporation >= perspiration rate nothing builds up. It’s why a tight watch will often have moisture behind it even though you don’t seem to be sweating.

Great description. Now I'm grossed out but had fun imagining bacteria dying perpetually until it's some sort of additional crust on the dried meat..

I think there is a substantial difference as back then the meat was literally "submerged" in salt to preserve it.

Nowadays I believe it's simply lightly coated in salt to only maximize flavor since we have fridges.

The past is a long time!

Kidneys too, last time I looked. Apparently it's kind of a feedback loop where salt makes them work poorly which leads to high pressure which leads to damage and repeat. Some details here:

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/kidneys-salt-and-blood-pr...

As I understand it's related in that salt dissolves in water easily and somehow causes your body to retain water. This in turn increases the water in your blood (plasma I guess), thus the pressure increases. A 'water pill' (hydrochlorothiazide) is often prescribed along with blood pressure reducing medicine to make you urinate and remove water from your system. While my salt intake is normal, it wasn't until I was prescribed a water pill in conjunction with my blood pressure pill that I was able to see better results and also able to take less of the blood pressure med.

Don't agree with that. For example here it shows that sodium might increase your chances to survive heart desease: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/good-heart-keep-holding-... Kidneys require sodium to function properly. Adrenals via aldosterone impact sodium. And when you're stressed, your adrenals might be in a bad shape. I think sodium is a big deal. And some people hit with that especially hard.

This[1] rather lengthy article suggests that the issue there isn't the salt, but rather the interaction between the salt and the raw fish which causes carcinogenic compounds to form.

1: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK304384/

MSG is often used as a food additive in combination with heroic amounts of fat and sugar which would otherwise be unpalatable without it - particularly in a Chinese restaurant setting which is what people associate with MSG...

You're probably experiencing a sugar crash.

I suspect you don't experience the same after eating a bag of Doritos but they're absolutely loaded with MSG.. plus in all likelihood also sodium inosinate, sodium guanylate and who knows what else.

I don't want to kick the hornet's nest, but isn't MSG avoidance just an example of nocebo? It's just a salt right and its connection to headaches has never actually been established, it's jut something people say.

Chinese restaurants in the US are notorious for using excess salt and sweeteners.

Though to be fair it's a form of arms race, most US restaurants overdo it if the regional palette has become desensitized. It's not strictly a Chinese restaurant issue.

But many Chinese dishes on the menus are defined by their sweet and salty axis, and being in this environment they're pushed to the extreme.

Many foods contain rather large amounts of glutamate naturally. Do you get especially thirsty after eating meat or dairy?

Do you honestly think that "salted meat" would be listed on a death certificate?

Here's a source for you: https://www.nature.com/articles/jhh2008144

Ok: https://www.nature.com/articles/jhh2008144

Life expectancy at birth, not lifespan.

In my experience, even prestigious journals such as Nature Communications or Genome Biology are not willing to spend resources on professional editing. Most of the effort is passed onto reviewers.

Only Nature, Science, Cell and a few high-end sister journals really put an effort proofreading, editing and adapting figures to the general look and feel of the journal.