Sodium ions would build up inside your cells

 Mighty Minerals & Food : part-4

Herefs why: First, the number of cancers among the laboratory animals was low enough to have occurred simply by chance. Second, the cancers occurred only in male rats; no cases were reported in female rats or mice of either sex. Finally, the amount of fluorides the animals ingested was 50 to 100 times higher than what you get in drinking water. To get as much fluoride as those rats did, human beings would have to drink more than 380 8-ounce glasses of fluoridated water a day. Today, more than half the people living in the United States have access to adequately fluoridated public water supplies. The result is a lifelong 50 percent to 70 percent reduction in cavities among the residents of these communities

some things pass through, but others donft. Water molecules and small mineral molecules flow through freely, unlike larger molecules such as proteins. The process by which sodium flows out and potassium flows in to keep things on an even keel is called the sodium pump. If this process were to cease, sodium ions would build up inside your cells. Sodium attracts water; the more sodium there is inside the cell, the more water flows in. Eventually, the cell would burst and die. The sodium pump, regular as a clock, prevents this imbalance from happening so you can move along, blissfully unaware of those efficient, electric ions that tell the water in your body where to go. (See the sidebar hHow does water know where to go?h) Other tasks electrolytes perform In addition to maintaining fluid balance, sodium, potassium, and chloride (the form of chlorine found in food) ions create electrical impulses that enable cells to send messages  Sodium, potassium, and chloride are also major minerals (see Chapter 12) and essential nutrients. Like other nutrients, theyfre useful in these bodily processes: 1. Sodium helps digest proteins and carbohydrates and keeps your blood from becoming too acidic or too alkaline Potassium is used in digestion to synthesize proteins and starch and is a major constituent of muscle tissue. Chloride is a constituent of hydrochloric acid, which breaks down food in your stomach. Itfs also used by white blood cells to make hypochlorite, a natural antiseptic. Getting the Water You Need Because the body doesnft store water, you need to take in a new supply every day, enough to replace what you lose when you breathe, perspire, urinate, and defecate. On average, this adds up to 1,500 to 3,000 milliliters (50 to 100 ounces; 6 to 12. 850 to 1,200 milliliters (28 to 40 ounces) is lost in breath and perspiration. 600 to 1,600 milliliters (20 to 53 ounces) is lost in urine Toss in some extra ounces for a safe margin, and you get the current recommendations that women age 19 and up consume about 11 cups of water a day and men age 19 and up, about 15 Not all that water must come in a cup from the tap products of digestion and metabolism are carbon dioxide (a waste product that you breathe out of your body) and water composed of hydrogen from comes directly from what you eat and drink. You can get water from, well, plain Eight 10-ounce glasses give you 2,400 milliliters, approximately enough potatoes knew that a healthy body needed eight full glasses of water a day. Read More...