Ever wondered, why you love those French fries with sprinkled salt and cannot keep your hands off ?

In first of its kind, a study finds that salty food diminishes thirst and increases hunger, due to a higher need for energy.

The results, published in the journal of Clinical Investigation, showed something different: salt stayed in the urine, while water moved back into the kidney and body.

“It’s not solely a waste product, as has been assumed,” said one of the researcher Friedrich C Luft from Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Germany.

“Instead, it turns out to be a very important osmolyte — a compound that binds to water and helps transport it. Its function is to keep water in when our bodies get rid of salt. Nature has apparently found a way to conserve water that would otherwise be carried away into the urine by salt,” Luft added.

The team carried out a simulated mission to Mars and an international group of scientists found exactly the opposite to be true, where Cosmonauts who ate more salt retained more water, weren’t as thirsty, and needed more energy.

They divided participants in two groups of 10 male volunteers sealed into a mock spaceship for two simulated flights to Mars and were examined for 105 days.

The second group was sent for over 205 days.

Both the groups had identical diets and later they were given three different levels of salt in their food.

The results confirmed that eating more salt led to a higher salt content in urine — no surprise there. Nor was there any surprise in a correlation between amounts of salt and overall quantity of urine.

The findings suggest that the increase was not due to more drinking — in fact, a salty diet caused the participants to drink less. Salt was triggering a mechanism to conserve water in the kidneys.

Cut down on trans fats in daily diet to reduce heart attack risk

Hospitalisation for heart attacks and strokes is less common among people living in areas that restrict trans fats in foods compared to residents in areas without restrictions, new research has found.

“Our study highlights the power of public policy to impact the cardiovascular health of a population,” said lead author Eric Brandt from Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, US.

Trans fatty acids, or trans fats, are commonly found in fried foods, chips, crackers and baked goods. Eating even minimal amounts is linked to a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death worldwide. Some communities in the US — most notably New York City — have eliminated the use of trans fats in restaurants and eateries in recent years.

To study the impact of restricting trans fats, researchers compared outcomes for people living in New York counties with and without the restrictions.

Using data from the state department of health and census estimates between 2002 and 2013, the researchers focused on hospital admissions for heart attack and stroke.

They found that three or more years after the restrictions were implemented, people living in areas with the bans had significantly fewer hospitalisations for heart attack and stroke when compared to similar urban areas where no limits existed.