We really do have a tough time shaking our sweet tooth. Speaking of teeth, it has been known for thousands of years that salt prevents the decay of teeth, whereas refined sugar causes dental cavities.

But the yin and yang of salt and sugar doesn’t stop at the mouth—it also extends to the brain.

As a colleague and I alluded to in the New York Times, sugar, not salt, is the true addictive white crystal. Indeed, sugar meets the definition of an addictive substance in animals, hitting all the checkboxes for being a substance of abuse including reward, tolerance, bingeing, and withdrawal. And as I show in my book, The Salt Fix, salt may actually be an antidote to sugar addiction.

Sodium depletion sensitizes the reward system, making sugar more appealing; increasing the intake of salt may actually reduce sugar cravings and may even reduce the reward that you get from consuming sugar. Low-salt diets may even increase the addictiveproperties of drugs of abuse.

Unlike sugar, salt also appears beneficial to our brain. Indeed, sodium helps to move vitamin C into the brain, whereas glucose competes with its uptake. Sugar also depletes the body of B vitamins, including thiamine, which is extremely important for brain health. This suggests that consuming salt is indeed good, and even necessary, for brain health whereas overconsuming sugar wreaks havoc.

Salt also helps with digestion. Indeed, salt is made up of two essential minerals: sodium and chloride. Chloride is needed in the production of stomach acid, helping with digestion of food and absorbing nutrients, whereas consuming sugar can lead to digestive issues.

When it comes to your kidneys, it’s easy to think that salt is the harmful white crystal. This is because we are constantly being told that eating too much salt is stressful on our kidney-shaped organs. However, this does not appear to be true. Indeed, the evidence in the literature shows that overconsuming sugar drives chronic kidney disease, whereas not consuming enough salt can actually cause kidney issues. In fact, one study concluded kidney function actually deteriorates with a low-salt diet due to impaired blood flow to the kidneys.

Adding insult to injury, the substance that we have blamed for decades as a cause of kidney stones (i.e., salt) may actually be a solution. Indeed, studies show that eating more salt can reduce the risk of kidney stones, whereas eating more sugar increases the risk.

The battle of good and evil between these two white crystals rages on in our bodies. Indeed, the assault on our bodies from overconsuming sugar is wreaking metabolic havoc. When you overeat sugar, this causes an increase in insulin (a fat-storing hormone), insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes, whereas eating more salt actually can improve type 2 diabetes.

The benefits of eating more salt have been undervalued for decades.

When it comes to your bone health, yet again salt is the white crystal in shining armor. When we cut our salt intake, to the level that every dietary guideline tells us to, this can cause calcium and magnesium depletion from the body. When our intake of salt goes down, the body seems to pull sodium as well as calcium and magnesium from the bone, likely increasing the risk of osteoporosis. Low salt diets also increase the loss of magnesium in sweat—the body pushing out more magnesium instead of sodium in order to conserve low sodium reserves. All of this can take its toll on the health of our bones. In fact, consuming more salt may protect your bones, whereas consuming a diet high in sugar is clearly harmful. The next time you decide to reach for the sugar bowl, think twice, grabbing the salt shaker instead just may end up saving your life.

Originally published for MindBodyGreen.