Changes in body water and electrolytes during heat acclimation: effects of dietary sodium

In an effort to describe the influence of both high (HNA) and low (LNA) dietary sodium (399 vs. 98 mEq Na+ X d-1) on body fluids during heat acclimation (HA), nine untrained males underwent 8 d of HA twice (90 min treadmill walking, 5.6 km X h-1, 6% grade) in an environmental chamber (40.1 degrees C, 23.5% RH). Mean wholebody Na+ balance calculations indicated that HNA resulted in an increase of Na+ of $916 mEq per 8 days per subject, whereas LNA resulted in a relative Na+ deficiency of -230 mEq per 8 days per subject. Subjects exhibited typical HA adaptations of decreased heart rate (HR), decreased rectal temperature (Tre) during exercise, and an increase in resting plasma volume (PV) during both diets. Significant HNA vs. LNA differences (p less than 0.05) were observed in HR (days 3-5), Tre (days 3-6), PV (day 4), plasma osmolality (day 4), plasma Na+ (day 4), urine Na+ (days 2-8), and sweat Na+ (days 4 and 8). The between-diet differences in HR, Tre and PV were not detectable by the end of each dietary-exercise regimen. Needle biopsy samples (20-50 mg, lateral aspect of the gastrocnemius) indicated that muscle Na+ and muscle water were similar on all days, except day 9 when intracellular fluid expansion during LNA was noted. Change in body weight was not strongly correlated with delta PV (R2 = 0.47, 0.10) and neither osmotic forces nor plasma protein movements explained all PV shifts adequately.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)