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Why Low-Salt Diet Might Not Be Beneficial?
 

We are always told not to consume too much salt (sodium) to avoid various health concerns including hypertension (high blood pressure), heart disease and stroke. Numerous studies had showed the link between high-salt diet and hypertension that will eventually lead to heart disease and stroke.

However, a finding that was published online on November 9, 2011 in the ‘American Journal of Hypertension’ did not seem to be in tandem with such argument. Researchers from Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark found that reducing salt intake might not be as beneficial for the heart health as that was originally suggested. Though low-salt diet could lower blood pressure, it raises the levels of cholesterol, fat and hormones in the blood that might increase the risk of heart disease.

Data, which was gathered from 167 studies in which participants were randomly assigned to either a low-salt or high-salt diet, were examined. All participants were followed for at least 4 weeks. The purpose was to estimate the effect of low- versus high-dietary sodium intake on systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, mean blood pressure, and blood concentrations of renin, aldosterone, catecholamines, cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and triglyceride.

Results of analysis indicated that the effect of a low-salt diet on blood pressure was small but was most significant for people with hypertension: the low-salt diet lowered the blood pressure by 3.5 percent. Nevertheless, a low-salt diet led to 2.5 percent rise in cholesterol levels and a 7 percent increase in triglycerides, and it also increased the hormones that regulate the body’s salt levels, which would cause the body to preserve salt rather than excreting it in the urine.

Some limitations were noted in the new findings, though. A low-salt diet was defined in the study as one that included 2.3 grams of salt or less per day. This is still considered high amount of salt intake, comparing to no more than 1.5 grams as recommended by the American Heart Association (AHA). An average American consumes between 3.5 and 5 grams of salt per day. Moreover, future studies are necessary to investigate whether a very low-salt diet would bring more benefits to health and examine the effect of the diet over a period of more than 4 weeks.

Nevertheless, they concluded that the good and bad effects of a low-salt diet might just cancel each other out. The diet has, therefore, relatively little effect on the development of disease.

Another study carried out by researchers from McMaster University in Ontario also reported that cutting salt intake as low as possible might put people at a higher risk for conditions such as heart disease and stroke. Their findings appeared on November 23, 2011 in the ‘Journal of the American Medical Association’ (JAMA).

They found that too little salt was bad even after adjusting for factors like medications, weight, smoking and cholesterol levels. Those who consumed between 4,000 and 6,000 milligrams (mg) of sodium per day were least likely for heart disease and stroke. The amount of salt ate was more than double the current recommendations.

Participants who consumed between 2,000 and 3,000 mg of sodium per day were actually 20 percent more likely to experience death or heart related, compared to those consuming between 4,000 and 6,000 mg daily. Those who consumed more than 8,000 mg of sodium per day were 50 to 70 percent more likely to have a stroke or heart attack, or to be hospitalized or die from heart disease.

Perhaps, it is premature to overturn the recommendation on keeping salt levels low yet. Scientists should still look further to examine whether a cut in salt really does not generate a net health benefit. After all, diet is complex and the effects of eating less salt could not be oversimplified.

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