In my last post I mentioned my ridiculous taste for salt, I probably consume enough sodium per day to give an elephant a bad case of hypertension. I do think it is something more than an idiosyncrasy of my palate. And so after last night I started thinking about it more and decided to look it up, apparently an appetite for salt can signal a zinc deficiency, which is interesting, because the study also correlated anorexia with zinc deficiency as well. Keep in mind that this is the more stark scientific usage of "anorexia," just meaning decreased food intake, not the psychological condition (the study was done on baby rats, who may be the last members of society to remain unaffected by today's barrage of messages about body and weight. So far, at least).
I remember seeing something on a parent's message board one time (yes, I spy on those sometime, it is a poignant reality check to see these issues from "the other side," and I think it might actually have been Laura's board) about giving zinc tablets to help with weight gain in recovery, and there is science to back this up. There is one study that found that about 90% of athletes have zinc-deficient diets, which was also found to be linked to the development of eating disorders. My favorite among the studies that I dug into last night, though, gives us a triple whammy: it links zinc deficiency (which, remember, apparently correlates to salt cravings) with anorexia, and then gives us the cause for that: apparently increased leptin is also related to low zinc levels, with evidence that it is specifically the leptin mRNA from abdominal adipose that is affected. Muy cool, no?
Also, it is common for ED sufferers to be hypokalemic. At my very first visit with my dietician she requested bloodwork records from my physician to see what my potassium levels were like. Hopefully everyone remembers from their high school biology class that sodium and potassium ratios are crucial for the most basic function of your cells (remember those cute ion pumps that live in your cells' lipid bilayers?), and having one out of whack can mess up the whole balance.
So, that's just a few notes from the results of my crash course in sodium/zinc regulation in relation to EDs, for anyone else who has also noticed major salt cravings and wondered about the cause. This would also explain why the salt substitutes NEVER satisfy me, because it's not the taste I'm craving, but the sodium itself.
(Image credit for sodium molecule)
4 comments:
Zinc is certainly worth looking into. I know when I was probably rock bottom ED wise, I had a massive zinc deficiency. My Dr. noted it on my chart but never really did anything about it. I think he was more concerned about my horribly low ferritin levels.
The other thing I wanted to say about sodium which I learned from reading Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook (I keep meaning to post about this book) is that a high sodium intake also interferes with calcium absorption. We all know about caffeine's harmful effects on bones, but I hadn't heard about the sodium one.
So, basically, I think you really need to get some answers to your high sodium intake. Have you talked with your dietitian about this as well as your fluid intake? Curious also, what would happen if you tried lowering your sodium intake, though I know it is more of a craving for you.
Sometimes I forget how well you know me, you remember things about me better than I do sometimes. ;) I did fail to mention my history of massive thirst issues and one over-hyrdation episode. I thought about including that but I am never sure if my superlong posts hold people's attention.
Cutting out caffeine actually seemed to help quite a bit with the excessive thirst. I do get really thirsty sometimes still, but only after consuming a ton of salt, and nothing like the insatiable thirst I was having a few years ago. At that time I would come home from school after not having eaten for 10+ hours and I would drink over a gallon within an hour, I just couldn't get enough water. My semi-educated opinion is that I was having some degree of kidney malfunction, I just never got it looked at. It's not as much of an issue anymore, but for a while it was very scary.
I didn't know about the sodium/bone density issue...I really wish I'd had time to take a nutrition class at some point during my college career. I actually have an appt for a bone scan next month, I'll make sure to ask both the orthopedist and my dietitian about this. Thanks Tiptoe!
Also, food has quite a bit of fluid, too- even if it's not liquid. So not eating can lead to dehydration, even if you're drinking more to compensate.
One of my biggest culprits is meds. I get terrible dry mouth on some of them (although I've ended up off of the worst of them due to other side effects).
I've never had zinc levels checked, and I was mildly anemic at my worst and horrifically anemic at another point (laxatives are very bad for you- my colon got very unhappy with me).
My treatment team keeps me on zinc supplements, for the sorts of reasons you report here. I've also had problems with potassium levels, but that, I gather, can be a bit harder to treat. Potassium's hard to get in an effective supplement form, unfortunately.
I'd be interested to read what your treatment team thinks of some of this research.
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