Which life form has the highest salt tolerance? and what is the highest level for humans?

Probably some sort of microbe from Archaea.

bob(from black rock) said:

Which life form has the highest salt tolerance? and what is the highest level for humans?

I would hazard a guess for the first one at one of the organisms that lives in salt lakes. One is a bacterium that is pink. I think there are some others like Archeae that inhabit similar environments.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halophile

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haloarchaea

Bob, I have some hundred percent pure salt right here in my hand. It doesn’t seem to be doing me any harm. Let me just consult the MSDS just in case.

arrrggghhhh!

The reason for the question, I can remember back in the late 40’s some people used salt in place of tooth paste, and was wondering how effective salt would be compared to “normal” tooth paste?

bob(from black rock) said:

The reason for the question, I can remember back in the late 40’s some people used salt in place of tooth paste, and was wondering how effective salt would be compared to “normal” tooth paste?

Abrasive, but not as fine, and probably has a tendency to dissolve before it’s scrubbed much. Also no surfactants. So I’d say less effective.

bob(from black rock) said:

…. and what is the highest level for humans?

What do you mean by this – salt content in drinking water?

party_pants said:

bob(from black rock) said:

…. and what is the highest level for humans?

What do you mean by this – salt content in drinking water?

Yes and or food stuffs? or perhaps total daily ingestion of salt/ kg of body weight? and what would be the minimum daily requirement of Na Cl?

bob(from black rock) said:

party_pants said:

bob(from black rock) said:

…. and what is the highest level for humans?

What do you mean by this – salt content in drinking water?

Yes and or food stuffs? or perhaps total daily ingestion of salt/ kg of body weight? and what would be the minimum daily requirement of Na Cl?

Not sure we actually require it at all.

roughbarked said:

Not sure we actually require it at all.

Yes we do. It’s a basic dietary requirement. And not just for humans. Other animals seek it out too.

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09354.html

Witty Rejoinder said:

roughbarked said:

Not sure we actually require it at all.

Yes we do. It’s a basic dietary requirement. And not just for humans. Other animals seek it out too.

Yes but not necessarily the whole teaspoon at once?

roughbarked said:

bob(from black rock) said:

party_pants said:

What do you mean by this – salt content in drinking water?

Yes and or food stuffs? or perhaps total daily ingestion of salt/ kg of body weight? and what would be the minimum daily requirement of Na Cl?

Not sure we actually require it at all.

Well, we need sodium, and we need chloride.

roughbarked said:

bob(from black rock) said:

party_pants said:

What do you mean by this – salt content in drinking water?

Yes and or food stuffs? or perhaps total daily ingestion of salt/ kg of body weight? and what would be the minimum daily requirement of Na Cl?

Not sure we actually require it at all.

roughy, that was what I was thinking, would we be better off with a zero intake?

bob(from black rock) said:

roughbarked said:

bob(from black rock) said:

Yes and or food stuffs? or perhaps total daily ingestion of salt/ kg of body weight? and what would be the minimum daily requirement of Na Cl?

Not sure we actually require it at all.

roughy, that was what I was thinking, would we be better off with a zero intake?

No.

We need small amounts. Sodium has an important role in maintaining the water balance within cells and in the function of both nerve impulses and muscle

Angus Prune said:

roughbarked said:

bob(from black rock) said:

Yes and or food stuffs? or perhaps total daily ingestion of salt/ kg of body weight? and what would be the minimum daily requirement of Na Cl?

Not sure we actually require it at all.

Well, we need sodium, and we need chloride.

Yeah and we probably also need nitrogen and glycerine but not in the form of nitroglycerine?

bob(from black rock) said:

Angus Prune said:

roughbarked said:

Not sure we actually require it at all.

Well, we need sodium, and we need chloride.

Yeah and we probably also need nitrogen and glycerine but not in the form of nitroglycerine?

Many foods contain the sodium and chloride.

roughbarked said:

bob(from black rock) said:

Angus Prune said:

Well, we need sodium, and we need chloride.

Yeah and we probably also need nitrogen and glycerine but not in the form of nitroglycerine?

Many foods contain the sodium and chloride.

Roll mops

morrie said:

roughbarked said:

bob(from black rock) said:

Yeah and we probably also need nitrogen and glycerine but not in the form of nitroglycerine?

Many foods contain the sodium and chloride.

Roll mops

Pickled herring. Yum.

“The Fluid Inclusion Exhibit features the world’s oldest living organism, estimated to be about 250 million years old. The unprecedented discovery of living bacteria found trapped inside a salt crystal is the work of Drs. Russell Vreeland, William Rosenzweig, and Dennis Powers. Their findings indicate the cells from which those spores presumably formed were alive and active before the time of dinosaurs. The three scientists were at the museum for the exhibit opening and collected salt samples from the Hutchinson mine for further research.”

For news article on this see http://www.sciencenews.org/sn_arc99/6_12_99/fob3.htm
For technical article (letter to Nature) see http://www.its.caltech.edu/~bi1/Bi1__Micro-_to_Macro-Biology/Exams_files/Ancient%20DNA%20paper.pdf