Diet/immune system 

High salt diet weakens the immune system

Source: Medical Press

A new study, conducted on mice as well as humans, found that high-salt diets weakened their immune systems. This contradicts previous data showing that some skin parasites were fought more effectivelyby the immune system when animals consumed a high-salt diet. But the benefit of added salt appears to be only skin deep. This is because salt levels in the blood and the other organs are kept at a constant level by excreting the excess in the urine. This indirectly weakens the immune system because extraction of salt from the blood involves an increase of glucocorticoids in the body. These glucocorticoids inhibit the function of granulocytes, which are an important component of the immune system.