Thank you for your response, Steffan.

>Western populations eat 100-200 times more salt than the Yanomamo indians
>of the Amazone and obviously far, far more than they need.

What about the Plains Indians, for example?  At any rate, there's
considerable room for variation between our current excesses and the
zero-salt ideal recommended by some.

>But the evidence is rather strong
>that a typical western salt intake increases the risk of high blood
>pressure, stroke, heart failure, stomach cancer, osteoporosis, renal stones
>and possibly asthma.

Similar claims have been made for excessive meat consumption, lack of
grains, etc.  I realize that these studies have been criticized on the paleo
lists, but my point is that they are ambiguous; we should be equally
critical of research on salt intake.

>If you excuse me, this sounds like home made speculations. How could you
>know you're deficient?

Because if I don't eat large amounts of salt every day, I have trouble
retaining water, and become chronically thirsty (not surprising, given the
first symptom).  When I tried drinking a quart of salt water each morning,
as part of a bizarre cleansing regimen, my body absorbed most of it (it was
supposed to pass quickly through me).  As long as eating salt diminishes my
thirst instead of increasing it, I figure that the extra sodium is
beneficial.  Perhaps you can think of an alternative explanation.

Cheers,
-- Aaron

<<When the "fun fever," as he called the almost uncontrollable lure of the
chase, really began to rise in him, Browning might go without food in his
relentless trailing of an animal.  On one hunt he went with two sons to the
headwaters of the Potomac.  Having become separated from camp and his sons
while trailing a deer, he went all day without eating.  He had done this a
thousand times, knowing that as long as he had powder, a supply of balls in
his pouch, and a horn of salt he could survive.>>
("The Hunters and the Hunted", by George Laycock, p. 49)