What are the effects of sodium chloride?
Nov 25, 2025
Source: Cainiu Health
Dr. Wang Lei
Introduction
Under normal circumstances, sodium chloride, as an essential substance for the human body and a fundamental chemical raw material, plays a wide and important role, including maintaining electrolyte balance in the human body, diverse applications in the medical field, daily use as a seasoning and preservative, serving as a basic industrial material, and providing auxiliary functions in agricultural production. Sodium chloride plays an irreplaceable role across all these fields, and the human body needs to obtain it in appropriate amounts through daily diet.
Sodium chloride, as an essential substance for the human body and a fundamental chemical raw material, plays a wide-ranging and important role under normal circumstances. Its main functions include maintaining electrolyte balance in the body, diverse applications in the medical field, daily use as a seasoning and preservative, serving as a basic industrial raw material, and providing auxiliary benefits in agricultural production. A detailed analysis is as follows:
1. Maintaining Electrolyte Balance: Sodium chloride is a crucial component of bodily fluids, regulating osmotic pressure between cells and maintaining acid-base balance in body fluids. Sodium ions participate in nerve impulse conduction and muscle contraction, while chloride ions are the primary component of gastric acid. Together, they ensure the proper functioning of vital organs such as the heart and kidneys, helping prevent issues like fatigue and arrhythmia caused by dehydration or electrolyte imbalances.
2. Diverse Medical Applications: Commonly used saline solution (physiological saline) in medicine can be administered intravenously to replenish body fluids, as well as used to clean wounds, eyes, and mucous membranes to prevent infection. Additionally, sodium chloride serves as a solvent for medications, aiding in stable dissolution and precise delivery, making it a fundamental consumable in clinical treatments.
3. Daily Use in Seasoning and Preservation: Sodium chloride, commonly known as table salt, is a core seasoning in cooking that enhances food flavor. At the same time, high-concentration brine inhibits microbial growth and is used to pickle vegetables, meat, and other foods, thereby extending their shelf life.
4. Fundamental Industrial Raw Material: In industry, electrolysis of saturated sodium chloride solution produces caustic soda (sodium hydroxide), chlorine gas, and hydrogen gas—key raw materials for manufacturing plastics, soaps, disinfectants, and more. Furthermore, sodium chloride is used in anti-corrosion treatments for steel and for de-icing roads by lowering the melting point of ice and snow, thus ensuring traffic safety.
5. Supporting Role in Agricultural Production: In agriculture, sodium chloride solutions can be used for seed selection—plump seeds sink in a properly concentrated salt solution, improving germination and survival rates after sowing. For certain salt-tolerant crops, applying fertilizers containing sodium chloride in a controlled manner supplements sodium nutrients and promotes plant growth.
Sodium chloride plays an irreplaceable role across various fields. The human body requires moderate intake through daily diet, while industrial applications should emphasize efficient resource utilization and environmentally responsible processing to maximize its value.
