Why does sodium-heavy liquids like pickle juice, chicken noodle soup, or saline hydrate you better than regular water when you’re dehydrated, but salt water dehydrates you?

Question

Why does sodium-heavy liquids like pickle juice, chicken noodle soup, or saline hydrate you better than regular water when you’re dehydrated, but salt water dehydrates you?

In: 925

Answer 1

Its about the concentration of salt.

If you have two liquids with different concentrations of salt next to one another they will eventually mix and equalize.

Cells have a membrane tha can let some stuff through, but some stuff it cant. It cannot let salt go through, but water can.

So if you have a cell with somewhat salty water and very salty water on the outside the cells water will be sucked out, so that the concentration of salt equalizes.

Salty water can be healthy, if it has the same salt concentration as your body. Thats what a saline solution is that you get in a hospital. However, salt water from the ocean has a way too high concentration