Does sodium control water balance in the body?

Answer 1

Water balance is a function of the kidney. The kidney excretes excess water and aims to conserve water when body supplies of water are low. The kidney achieves this in small units called nephrons. The kidney has millions of these nephrons which are like little tubes that wind around in a set shape.

At one end of the nephron fluid is filtered in then the body takes anything out of this fluid it wants to keep and then the remainder passes out as urine. If the body wants to keep water - for example if you are thirsty - then it will use sodium to help achieve that. Simply looking at it you could think of sodium as a water magnet. The more sodium you have the more water it will attract to it and therefore all this water won't leave the body and get passed out as urine.


So to answer the question does sodium control water balance in the body. No. Sodium is used to control water. It does not control water balance. If you want to learn about water balance and what does that then go to wikipedia and search for Nephron, ADH, Loop of Henle amongst others and you can go into as much detail as you want.

Answer 2

Sodium is an electrolyte in the body and is required in the manufacture of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, which protects the body from any infections that may be present in food.

Answer 3

it certainly does in a lot of people.