NDT Advance Access originally published online on May 1, 2008
Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation 2008 23(7):2154-2161; doi:10.1093/ndt/gfm956
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© The Author [2008]. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of ERA-EDTA. All rights reserved.For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Aphrodite, sex and salt—from butterfly to man
1 Consultant Sel et Santé, Necker Hospital, Paris, France 2 Centre de Recherche, Inserm Unit 845 and Service de Néphrologie, Necker Hospital, Paris, France
Correspondence and offprint requests to: Tilman B. Drueke, Inserm Unite 845 and Service de Néphrologie, Hôpital Necker-Enfants Malades, Batiment Lavoisier 6ème étage, 161 rue de Sèvres, F-75743 Paris Cedex 15, France. Tel: +33-1-44-49-52-43; Fax: +33-1-45-66-51-33; E-mail: drueke@necker.fr
Keywords: early development; history; pregnancy; reproduction; sodium
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
For thousands of years, the merits of salt were considered with high esteem. It made meals palatable and served as an efficient food preservative. It is only in the last hundred years that some medical scientists started to question the innocuity of usual salt intake. They held salt responsible for the induction of arterial hypertension and associated pathologies, and subsequently, for a number of other disease states. Those with the most profound conviction of its implication in health bondage called it the poisonous gift of Neptune. It is not our intention to enter the ongoing debate on what is the most appropriate intake of salt.
The relation between salt and sexuality is a matter for serious consideration, both with regard to an ancient myth related to Aphrodite and with regard to the association between salt appetite and reproduction. Restriction of salt intake has major effects on procreation, gestation and lactation.
| Aphrodite, who is she? What has she to do with salt? |
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| Rituals and salt as a signifier |
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| From myth to science |
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| Influence of salt intake and balanced diet on reproductive performance |
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| Salt appetite and reproduction |
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| Salt intake, sexual activity and the chronic fatigue syndrome |
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| Low salt intake in hunter–gatherer populations and salt wasting: implications for female fertility |
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| Sodium and pregnancy |
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| Early postnatal development |
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| Conclusion |
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