I am sure similar mythological stories are prevalent in many cultures and even in comic books. The part of this timeless story that is pertinent to our discussion is this: We are not made like Ravana. We are built with only one heart, one brain, one liver, one head, and a pair of arms, legs and kidneys. No replacement parts. And unlike Ravana, we cannot regrow any of these organs if we lose them.  So if you subject your body to what it is not designed to deal with—as in consuming salt which is not physiologic to our body—the damage could be permanent.

Our vital organs do compensate to some extent for the un-physiologic activities we subject it to, but only to a point. Consider obesity and kidney function. The kidneys, which regulate the balance of fluids in chemicals in our body while clearing out waste materials, are made of a finite number of working units called glomeruli. These glomeruli act as filters. As you can see in the picture, the glomerulus keeps getting bigger and bigger to compensate for obesity. After a certain point, however, the dramatic overgrowth stops and kidney function can no longer keep up with the obesity.

We are not made like the demon king Ravana. The kidney cannot simply grow more glomeruli.  The end result: the obese person experiences one of the most dreaded  complications: kidney failure.

Kidney failure is just one of the many preventable illnesses we suffer because of our consumption of salt, this clearly not physiologic substance for our bodies.. Let us not pretend like we are built like Ravana. We should strive harder to nourish our bodies correctly and protect the limited capacity of our vital organs.

The above picture courtesy of: