Salty Diet May Be Okay for Healthy People
Everyone knows too much salt causes high blood pressure, which can cause heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, and possibly death. That means we should all eat a low sodium diet to stay healthy. Or should we? A team of scientists led by Jan Staessen, MD, PhD, of the University of Leuven (Belgium), and colleagues, found that in healthy people, a low sodium diet did NOT protect against high blood pressure, and those healthy people with the lowest salt intake were more likely to die from heart disease.
These study results come just a few short months after the federal government recommended that all American adults cut their salt intake to no more than 2,300 milligrams per day. The American Heart Association says the level should be reduced to no more than 1,500 milligrams per day, the level recommended for African Americans, a group typically at higher risk for high blood pressure. (The average amount of salt in the American diet is 3,500 milligrams per day.)
The Belgian study results question whether lowering the amount of salt in our diets is really beneficial or necessary for healthy people who don’t have high blood pressure. The results also conflict with the widespread belief that lower salt intake protects against high blood pressure.
For eight years the Belgian team followed nearly 3,700 participants who were roughly 40 years old. They measured blood pressure and the amount of sodium in each study volunteer’s urine once at the beginning of the study and once at the end. None of the study volunteers had high blood pressure when the study began. By the end of the study, volunteers with the lowest salt levels (2,500 milligrams per day) were just as likely to have high blood pressure as those who had the highest salt levels (6,000 milligrams per day).
Surprisingly, they also found that the higher the salt intake, the less likely study participants were to die from heart disease. Volunteers were divided into thirds based on their salt intake. Fifty people died from heart disease in the group with the lowest salt intake, compared to 24 with medium salt intake, and 10 deaths in the highest salt intake group.
Immediately after these study results were published, US doctors objected the results. They argued years of clinical data support the claim that lowering your salt intake protects against high blood pressure and heart disease.
It really boils down to how much salt is safe in our diets. We all need salt in our diet to survive, and we know too much salt can be harmful. Our kidneys control the level of salt in our bodies allowing us to release excess salt out with our urine. However, when there is too much salt, the kidney’s can’t keep up, and excess salt ends up in our bloodstream.
Salt draws in water. (Ever notice how you’re always thirsty after a handful of salty peanuts or chips?) More water in the bloodstream causes an increase in blood pressure. At high blood pressure levels, the heart has to pump harder to get blood to all our vital organs. Forcing the heart to pump harder, puts unnecessary strain on the muscle and can lead to heart disease.
In the end, we can take the study results with a grain of salt. If you really want to lower your risk of high blood pressure, lose weight and eat right. Studies show that when overweight people lose even 5 percent of their body weight, their risks of high blood pressure decreases. Cutting back on fats, sweets, and sugary soda and eating the appropriate amounts of fruits, vegetables, grains, and dairy are proven to lower blood pressure.
Venita Gresham Watson, PhD
Tags: is salt bad for you, salt in diet, salty diet, too much salt in diet, why is salt bad for you
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