On the back of my water bottle, a label states that there is both sodium and chloride, along with some other stuff. What are these things, why do they matter, and how come my water isn’t salty?

Question

I’ve been wondering this all my life. Please help.

EDIT: I FEEL SO MUCH SMARTER NOW, THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR ENLIGHTENING ME!

In: 2

Answer 1

So, they are forced legally to disclose those, because those are in the water, but in short, in most tap or bottled water, you won’t taste the saltiness due to there not being enough to majorly salt the water, but they are still plenty to act as electrolytes, which facilitate hydration in general. Think of them as making your body more prone to absorb water, and hydrate (namely, because salt is great at making water move around).

Also, if you removed all of it from your water, you’d actually notice the water tastes bland, so you do taste it.