What Happens to Your Body When You Add a Pinch of Salt to Your Morning Water

Gargling with water and a pinch of salt has long been used as a home remedy to soothe sore throats and other minor ailments, but now drinking this mixture has become popular on social media as a morning pick-me-up, with claims that it can do everything from increasing hydration to increasing energy. Although this drink may provide benefits to some people, experts say it is unnecessary for most.

In theory, drink a mixture of water and salt could help with hydration.

Salt is an electrolyte that the body needs for basic functioning, and we lose it naturally when we sweat, urinate, and cry. Drinking it with water in the morning increases the amount of sodium, the main component of salt, in your blood, allowing more water to stay in your bloodstream than without added salt. This is important because maintaining adequate blood volume ensures that blood can properly transport oxygen, nutrients, wastes, hormones and immune cells throughout the body.

But here’s the thing: “Most of us already get too much sodium in our diet, so we don’t really need to add it.” [salt]said Roxana Ehsani, RD, CSSD, sports dietitian. “Ordinary people don’t need to add salt to their food. [their] drinking water.”

In fact, excessive salt intake is a risk factor for high blood pressure, which can lead to heart problems such as heart attack and stroke.

That said, some people might benefit from this trend, said Blaise Abramovitz, DO, FASN, a nephrologist at Mercy Hospital at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. These groups include anyone who loses water and sodium quickly, such as people with frequent diarrhea, flu, pneumonia, or urinary tract infections. Drinking water with a little salt can also benefit serious athletes or anyone who sweats excessively from heat or humidity.

A pinch of salt is probably about 145 milligrams, which is a “very small amount,” Abramovitz said. But adding even a tiny amount of salt to your water is still “generally not appropriate or justified,” he added.

Abramovitz strongly advised certain groups to avoid this trend, including those with kidney disease, liver disease, high blood pressure or other heart problems like heart failure. It’s also a bad idea for anyone with type 2 diabetes or those watching their salt intake, Ehsani added.