If you're already on a high-fat diet, increasing your salt intake might do you some good, according to a recent study.

Researchers at the University of Iowa found that adding high salt to a high-fat diet prevents weight gain in mice. This is because non-caloric caloric dietary nutrients can have a profound effect on energy balance and weight gain.

"People focus on how much fat or sugar is in the food they eat, but [in our experiments] something that has nothing to do with caloric content -- sodium -- has an even bigger effect on weight gain," Justin Grobe, co-senior author of the study, said in a statement.

For the study, researchers fed groups of mice different diets: normal chow or high-fat chow with varying levels of salt (0.25 to 4 percent). To their surprise, the mice on the high-fat diet with the lowest salt gained the most weight, about 15 grams over 16 weeks, while animals on the high-fat, highest salt diet had low weight gain that was similar to the chow-fed mice, about 5 grams.

"Our study shows that not all calories are created equal," Michael Lutter, co-senior study author and assistant professor of psychiatry, said in a statement. "Our findings, in conjunction with other studies, are showing that there is a wide range of dietary efficiency, or absorption of calories, in the populations, and that may contribute to resistance or sensitivity to weight gain."

However, researchers caution that very high levels of dietary salt are associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease in humans.

The findings are detailed in the journal Scientific Reports.