In this post… The etymology of “tonic”. Is urea an effective osmole? The anatomy of the EFWC equation. How do NaCl supplements help in hyponatraemia? tonic, adj. and n. Medicine, etc. Having the property of increasing or restoring the tone or healthy condition and activity of the system or organs; strengthening, invigorating, bracing. (Of remedies or remedial treatment, and hence of air, climate, etc.) Etymology: Greek of or for stretching

In this post… A summary of our recent salt perspectives paper A few “clinical pearls” relating to salt Introduction We (with Matt Bailey and Bean Dhaun) recently wrote a perspectives article on salt and disease. This was an entertaining and educational process. Here I reflect on what I learned while writing the review, expanding a little on some potentially useful “clinical pearls”. (As the following is discussed in detail and fully referenced in our paper, I have not inserted many references below.

In this post… PPIs are associated with hypomagnesaemia PPIs reduce intestinal Mg2+ absorption diuretics, CNIs and anti-cancer agents promote renal Mg2+ loss PPIs and Mg We had a referral recently for a case of persistent hypomagnesaemia “? cause”. As is often the case, the patient had been taking a PPI for some years. There was no obvious alternative explanation and FEMg was low - so we blamed this as the likely culprit.