If you recall in our text, there is always a chemical imbalance in and out of the cell membrane, with the inside of the cell being negatively charged. Imagine if it were the other way around. Instead of an imbalance, there was an equality of ion concentrations in between membranes, then there would be no need for any action potential to happen! It is precisely the imbalance, thus the constant exchange of ions (Na and K) between cellular membranes that allows to trigger pathways that will then translate into a message that the rest of our body can understand.... Whether that message be sent to your brain in order for it to think or remember something, or to the heart to pump blood to the rest of the body, or even to sense hot or cold through the sensory nerve from fingers.
MAIN IDEA: Sodium-potassium pumps are what pull potassium into cells and push sodium out to create a chemical battery that drives the transmission of signals along nerves and powers the contraction of muscles.
So you then might wonder, what if suddenly there was a higher number of sodium than potassium or vice versa… Healthy individuals should consume lesser sodium, and more potassium. However, as you guys may know, Americans today consume more sodium than potassium. Yikes! Well how much exactly you might ask?
For sodium, an average American consumes around 2,500 and 7,500 mg a day, far more than what is needed, which is 200 mg! It's a different scenario for potassium, sadly. We average 2,500 mg a day, about half of the 4,700 mg minimum recommended for adults. This is really bad. We need more potassium in order to flush out wastes and toxins in the body, as well as provide energy for cellular respiration and activity. Lowering sodium intake is the way to go for a healthy life.
In case you wanted to improve your diet or lifestyle choice, I have included a diagram below that shows several foods you should avoid that you might be consuming in excess!
The image below shows a typical healthy individual's serving of each food group! Notice you should eat a lot of pasta, grains and cereals! I found that interesting. I thought bread and pasta were technically bad!
So now I want to know if you might re-consider your diet after reading through this post? Has this helped you in some way? How do you understand the sodium-potassium pump in the cellular membranes? I would like to know in a comment!
***** Oh and P.S. if you want to calculate how much of each food group (grains, pastas, sugar, salt, dairy, etc) you should consume as an individual... Go check, choosemyplate.gov! *****
This post really makes me want to eat healthier. I don't think I can bring myself to it though. Food is just so good! Especially food that you find in South Texas! It's basically Mexican food. Ha! It's also an interesting thought that roles inside and out of the cell membrane would be switched. It makes me wonder what side effects could be the outcome of that change! I mean, if you believe in evolution, wouldn't our body have dealt with that already? Maybe there's a bigger reason that our body is the way it is. Who knows? You could have stumbled onto something brilliant. Great post!
ReplyDeletePeople that consume sodium in society are a lot numbers in statistics. It’s hard to not purchase items when they are the particular items in the grocery stores that maintain it. Thus, not to worry in the future for future diseases, we as society have to try to maintain a healthy diet, exercise and maintain more knowledge of what we are really consuming each day.
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