Why girls' kidneys react differently to salt than boys'
Sodium Intake and Biological Sex Influence Urinary Endothelin-1 in Salt-Resistant Adults: A Pilot Study.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Only females increased ET-1 excretion in response to high salt, despite both sexes excreting the same amount of sodium and showing no blood pressure changes.
Scientists expected ET-1 to respond like in male rats—where salt increases ET-1 in males—but the human result was the exact opposite, revealing a previously unknown female-specific pathway.
Practical Takeaways
If you're a healthy premenopausal woman, you may handle occasional high-salt meals better than men—but don’t use this as license to eat junk food daily.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Only females increased ET-1 excretion in response to high salt, despite both sexes excreting the same amount of sodium and showing no blood pressure changes.
Scientists expected ET-1 to respond like in male rats—where salt increases ET-1 in males—but the human result was the exact opposite, revealing a previously unknown female-specific pathway.
Practical Takeaways
If you're a healthy premenopausal woman, you may handle occasional high-salt meals better than men—but don’t use this as license to eat junk food daily.
Publication
Journal
American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology
Year
2025
Authors
Victoria L Nasci, Jazmine I. Benjamin, R. C. Fetter, Joseph M. Stock, Nathan T. Romberger, J. Watso, Matthew C. Babcock, Megan M. Wenner, Austin T. Robinson, Eman Y Gohar
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Claims (6)
When women who are healthy and not menopausal eat a lot more salt for 10 days, their kidneys release more of a substance called endothelin-1 to help flush out the extra salt—but men’s kidneys don’t do this same thing.
Even when people who don’t get high blood pressure from salt eat a lot more salt for 10 days, their blood pressure doesn’t go up—no matter if they’re a man or a woman.
In rats, male kidneys make more endothelin-1 when they eat salt—but in humans, it’s the opposite: female kidneys make more. This shows we can’t just assume animal results apply to people.
Higher dietary salt intake does not lead to sustained increases in blood pressure in healthy humans over months and years as the body self-regulates.
When people who don’t get high blood pressure from salt eat more or less salt, their kidneys adjust how much salt they pee out—no matter if they’re male or female.