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The current study investigated the impact of different front-of-pack messages on liking, salt perception and table salt use of salt-reduced soups over repeated consumption. In a between-subjects design, participants consumed a chicken noodle soup five times over 3 weeks. Participants were assigned to one of five experimental conditions and were categorized into three 'Interest in Salt Reduction' groups based on their self-reported interest in salt reduction. They consumed a regular-salt soup or a 30 % salt-reduced soup, either with or without a front-of-pack message (nutritional, sensory or social based). Liking, salt perception and table salt use were measured at each consumption. Central location test. British consumers (n 493) aged 24-65 years. The soups remained stable in liking over repeated consumption, with no significant differences between the experimental conditions. However, liking did differ among the different Interest in Salt Reduction groups: the 'not aware, no action' group liked salt-reduced soups with a nutritional message the most, whereas the 'aware and action' group liked salt-reduced soups with a social message the most. There was no change in the amount of table salt added as people got more familiar with the salt-reduced soups, suggesting a strong role for habit in table salt use. It mattered whether consumers were thinking about reducing their salt intake or not: a communication message tailored to a country's interest in reducing salt is recommended to motivate consumers to lower their salt intake.

This study investigates the availability, labeling, and pricing of salt-free/reduced versions of regular-salt packaged foods and table salt alternatives in Klang Valley, Malaysia. A cross-sectional market survey was carried out across 42 supermarkets, hypermarkets, and two online platforms, identifying 455 packaged food items and 302 table salt products from 13 different countries. Among packaged foods, only 7.0% displayed the 'healthier choice' logo. Sauces had the highest median salt content in mg/100 g (5746 ± 2250). Only 9.1% of \"salt-reduced\" and 16.4% of \"regular-salt\" foods met guidelines for low-salt content (< 120 mg/100 g). For table salt, Himalaya rock salt had the highest median sodium content, 77,205 ± 71,741, while truffle salt recorded the highest price (MYR 39.59/100 g). A weak negative association was found between price and salt content for packaged foods. The study also identified 43 commonly consumed packaged foods that lacked a lower-sodium salt substitute, with instant noodles, sauces, and snacks having higher median sodium content (mg/100 g) compared to other categories: 1708 ± 1,445, 880 ± 358, and 621 ± 570, respectively. The findings highlight the need for better labeling, more accessible and affordable lower-salt/sodium options, and increased consumer awareness to reduce sodium intake and improve public health in Malaysia. Regulatory measures such as mandatory sodium limits, front-of-pack labeling, and reformulation incentives are recommended to address these challenges.

The close relationship between hypertension and dietary sodium intake is widely recognized and supported by several studies. A reduction in dietary sodium not only decreases the blood pressure and the incidence of hypertension, but is also associated with a reduction in morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular diseases. Prolonged modest reduction in salt intake induces a relevant fall in blood pressure in both hypertensive and normotensive individuals, irrespective of sex and ethnic group, with larger falls in systolic blood pressure for larger reductions in dietary salt. The high sodium intake and the increase in blood pressure levels are related to water retention, increase in systemic peripheral resistance, alterations in the endothelial function, changes in the structure and function of large elastic arteries, modification in sympathetic activity, and in the autonomic neuronal modulation of the cardiovascular system. In this review, we have focused on the effects of sodium intake on vascular hemodynamics and their implication in the pathogenesis of hypertension.

Sodium chloride (NaCl), or rocksalt, is well characterized at ambient pressure. As a result of the large electronegativity difference between Na and Cl atoms, it has highly ionic chemical bonding (with 1:1 stoichiometry dictated by charge balance) and B1-type crystal structure. By combining theoretical predictions and diamond anvil cell experiments, we found that new materials with different stoichiometries emerge at high pressures. Compounds such as Na₃Cl, Na₂Cl, Na₃Cl₂, NaCl₃, and NaCl₇ are theoretically stable and have unusual bonding and electronic properties. To test this prediction, we synthesized cubic and orthorhombic NaCl₃ and two-dimensional metallic tetragonal Na₃Cl. These experiments establish that compounds violating chemical intuition can be thermodynamically stable even in simple systems at nonambient conditions.

Trace metal contents of 28 of refined and unrefined table salt samples from Turkey, Egypt and Greece have been determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry after coprecipitation by dysprosium(III) hydroxide. Copper, nickel, cobalt, manganese, lead and cadmium levels were found in the range of 0.17-0.47, 0.16-1.57, 0.22-0.48, 0.26-4.68, 0.50-1.64 and 0.14-0.30 μg g⁻¹, respectively. The results found in the presented work were compared with literature values.

The effects of short-term salt stress on gas exchange and the regulation of photosynthetic electron transport were examined in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and its salt-tolerant close relative Thellungiella (Thellungiella halophila). Plants cultivated on soil were challenged for 2 weeks with NaCl. Arabidopsis showed a much higher sensitivity to salt than Thellungiella; while Arabidopsis plants were unable to survive exposure to greater than 150 mM salt, Thellugiella could tolerate concentrations as high as 500 mM with only minimal effects on gas exchange. Exposure of Arabidopsis to sublethal salt concentrations resulted in stomatal closure and inhibition of CO₂ fixation. This lead to an inhibition of electron transport though photosystem II (PSII), an increase in cyclic electron flow involving only PSI, and increased nonphotochemical quenching of chlorophyll fluorescence. In contrast, in Thellungiella, although gas exchange was marginally inhibited by high salt and PSI was unaffected, there was a large increase in electron flow involving PSII. This additional electron transport activity is oxygen dependent and sensitive to the alternative oxidase inhibitor n-propyl gallate. PSII electron transport in Thellungiella showed a reduced sensitivity to 2'-iodo-6-isopropyl-3-methyl-2',4,4'-trinitrodiphenylether, an inhibitor of the cytochrome b₆f complex. At the same time, we observed a substantial up-regulation of a protein reacting with antibodies raised against the plastid terminal oxidase. No such up-regulation was seen in Arabidopsis. We conclude that in salt-stressed Thellungiella, plastid terminal oxidase acts as an alternative electron sink, accounting for up to 30% of total PSII electron flow.

Sodium transporters play key roles in plant tolerance to salt stress. Here, we report that a member of the High-Affinity K⁺ Transporter (HKT) family, OsHKT1;1, in rice (Oryza sativa'Nipponbare') plays an important role in reducing Na⁺ accumulation in shoots to cope with salt stress. Theoshkt1;1mutant plants displayed hypersensitivity to salt stress. They contained less Na⁺ in the phloem sap and accumulated more Na⁺ in the shoots compared with the wild type.OsHKT1;1was expressed mainly in the phloem of leaf blades and up-regulated in response to salt stress. Using a yeast one-hybrid approach, a novel MYB coiled-coil type transcription factor, OsMYBc, was found to bind to theOsHKT1;1promoter. In vivo chromatin immunoprecipitation and in vitro electrophoresis mobility shift assays demonstrated thatOsMYBcbinds to AAANATNC(C/T) fragments within theOsHKT1;1promoter. Mutation of theOsMYBc-binding nucleotides resulted in a decrease in promoter activity ofOsHKT1;1. Knockout ofOsMYBcresulted in a reduction in NaCl-induced expression ofOsHKT1;1and salt sensitivity. Taken together, these results suggest that OsHKT1;1 has a role in controlling Na⁺ concentration and preventing sodium toxicity in leaf blades and is regulated by theOsMYBctranscription factor.

The plant root is the first organ to encounter salinity stress, but the effect of salinity on root system architecture (RSA) remains elusive. Both the reduction in main root (MR) elongation and the redistribution of the root mass between MRs and lateral roots (LRs) are likely to play crucial roles in water extraction efficiency and ion exclusion. To establish which RSA parameters are responsive to salt stress, we performed a detailed time course experiment in which Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) seedlings were grown on agar plates under different salt stress conditions. We captured RSA dynamics with quadratic growth functions (ROOT-FIT) and summarized the salt-induced differences in RSA dynamics in three growth parameters: MR elongation, average LR elongation, and increase in number of LRs. In the ecotype Columbia-0 accession of Arabidopsis, salt stress affected MR elongation more severely than LR elongation and an increase in LRs, leading to a significantly altered RSA. By quantifying RSA dynamics of 31 different Arabidopsis accessions in control and mild salt stress conditions, different strategies for regulation of MR and LR meristems and root branching were revealed. Different RSA strategies partially correlated with natural variation in abscisic acid sensitivity and different Na⁺/K⁻ ratios in shoots of seedlings grown under mild salt stress. Applying ROOT-FIT to describe the dynamics of RSA allowed us to uncover the natural diversity in root morphology and cluster it into four response types that otherwise would have been overlooked.

Despite numerous reports implicating salicylic acid (SA) in plant salinity responses, the specific ionic mechanisms of SA-mediated adaptation to salt stress remain elusive. To address this issue, a non-invasive microelectrode ion flux estimation technique was used to study kinetics of NaCl-induced net ion fluxes in Arabidopsis thaliana in response to various SA concentrations and incubation times. NaCl-induced K+ efflux and H+ influx from the mature root zone were both significantly decreased in roots pretreated with 10–500 μM SA, with strongest effect being observed in the 10–50 μM SA range. Considering temporal dynamics (0–8-h SA pretreatment), the 1-h pretreatment was most effective in enhancing K+ retention in the cytosol. The pharmacological, membrane potential, and shoot K+ and Na+ accumulation data were all consistent with the model in which the SA pretreatment enhanced activity of H+-ATPase, decreased NaCl-induced membrane depolarization, and minimized NaCl-induced K+ leakage from the cell within the first hour of salt stress. In long-term treatments, SA increased shoot K+ and decreased shoot Na+ accumulation. The short-term NaCl-induced K+ efflux was smallest in the gork1-1 mutant, followed by the rbohD mutant, and was highest in the wild type. Most significantly, the SA pretreatment decreased the NaCl-induced K+ efflux from rbohD and the wild type to the level of gork1-1, whereas no effect was observed in gork1-1. These data provide the first direct evidence that the SA pretreatment ameliorates salinity stress by counteracting NaCl-induced membrane depolarization and by decreasing K+ efflux via GORK channels.

Their sessile lifestyle means that plants have to be exquisitely sensitive to their environment, integrating many signals to appropriate developmental and physiological responses. Stimuli ranging from wounding and pathogen attack to the distribution of water and nutrients in the soil are frequently presented in a localized manner but responses are often elicited throughout the plant. Such systemic signaling is thought to operate through the redistribution of a host of chemical regulators including peptides, RNAs, ions, metabolites, and hormones. However, there are hints of a much more rapid communication network that has been proposed to involve signals ranging from action and system potentials to reactive oxygen species. We now show that plants also possess a rapid stress signaling system based on Ca ²⁺ waves that propagate through the plant at rates of up to ∼400 µm/s. In the case of local salt stress to the Arabidopsis thaliana root, Ca ²⁺ wave propagation is channeled through the cortex and endodermal cell layers and this movement is dependent on the vacuolar ion channel TPC1. We also provide evidence that the Ca ²⁺ wave/TPC1 system likely elicits systemic molecular responses in target organs and may contribute to whole-plant stress tolerance. These results suggest that, although plants do not have a nervous system, they do possess a sensory network that uses ion fluxes moving through defined cell types to rapidly transmit information between distant sites within the organism.