Explain why eating a salty meal causes mild tissue edema. In your answer, include information about the hydrostatic and osmotic forces that act on the capillaries and explain how these forces change after a salty meal compared to before.

Answer 1

Answer: Salt is also known as NaCl that is Sodium chloride so salt is composed of these 2 atoms. Sodium helps to regulate water balance of the body by means of water retention or by dehydration. High quantities of sodium consumption can lead to an electrolyte imbalance along with water retention in the cells located in the tissue of extremities or in your circulatory system that leads to increased pressure in the blood vessels of the body known as high blood pressure or hypertension which causes edema.

Edema, known as water retention, occurs when consumption of large amounts of sodium occurs relative to water intake due of osmosis. As we know water molecules moves from lower concentration of solute to the higher concentration of solute or higher concentration of water to the lower concentration of water to balance the concentration of solution between the 2 regions. So due to high intake of salt the concentration of sodium increases in the blood which causes higher osmotic pressure in the blood that leads to drawing of more water to make the sodium more diluted by water retention and to balance both the region of high and low sodium concentration.