Why salty food is so appetising when you’re by the sea

By José Miguel Soriano del Castillo, Catedrático de Nutrición y Bromatología del Departamento de Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública, Universitat de València

A table overlooking the sea, with a cold drink accompanied by olives, crisps, nuts, perhaps a tin of sardines or fried fish and chips. Even if you aren’t particularly hungry, the seaside atmosphere seems to demand this kind of savoury, salty food. Is it just force of habit, a physiological need, or does the sea somehow awaken a craving for salt?

The prime suspect is sweat. At the beach, we walk, swim, play and sunbathe, and although the breeze may mask it, we lose water and electrolytes in the…

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