Health

I read years ago that when someone attempted to follow recipes from ancient Rome they found the results unbearably salty. The Romans famously introduced lead pipes (plumbum for their plumbing) to carry their drinking water, and the wealthier Romans may have suffered from lead poisoning, which tends to diminish the ability to taste salt. Lead has sometimes been used in pigments for pottery glazes, even recently. A case from a number of years ago involved a family who had bought a pottery pitcher as a souvenir in Mexico and used it to store their orange juice in the refrigerator. The citric acid in the juice slowly leached out the lead in the glaze, and they all wound up with lead poisoning. I'd be wary of eating out of anything made in China, too.

More resent research suggests the Romans may have been poisoned by antimony alloyed with the lead. I don't know if antimony has the same effect on tasting salt.