Avoid Salt to Reduce Blood Pressure

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A World Health Organization study of more than 7,000 people aged 50 to 54 years old, called CARDIAC, found men to be more salt sensitive than women, although women who were postmenopausal did show increased blood pressure, suggesting a tendency for salt sensitivity to increase at menopause.

The medical community continues to debate the methodology, results and significance of these trials. Conducting long-term studies is difficult because of funding issues and the ethics of putting people on high salt diets for extended periods of time. However, the most recent study, known as DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), went to great lengths to create a clear picture of the impacts of salt in the diet. Researchers meticulously monitored salt intake of 412 individuals with high blood pressure. Divided into three groups, the first ate a diet that contained 3,300 milligrams of sodium each day, the second ate 2,400 milligrams, and the third group consumed no more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day, over the course of 30 days. Each study participant received prepared meals, including snacks, and adherence to the diet was strictly monitored. The researchers found a very significant reduction for those on a low salt diet in all of the study’s participants, even the control subjects whose blood pressure was in the normal range at the beginning of the study.

THE CONTROVERSY: SCIENCE VS. THE SALT INDUSTRY

Those who argue against lowering sodium intake caution that the available evidence doesn’t warrant a mandate to lower salt consumption for everyone. They think that many of the studies have inherent limitations, and argue that salt is a vital nutrient and limiting its consumption could have unforeseen implications upon the nervous system and insulin resistance. Some of these medical experts have ties to the Salt Institute, the industry’s lobbying group.

Physicians in the United Kingdom have been railing against the salt industry for years. In 2003, the British government’s Food Standards Agency started a campaign to encourage food manufacturers to reduce added sodium, and recommended that the public consume no more than 6 grams of salt (2,400 milligrams of sodium) per day.

In a study published in the journal Hypertension, Graham A. MacGregor, professor of cardiovascular medicine at St. George’s Hospital Medical School in London, and his colleagues found that reducing salt intake made people drink less. Since about 25 percent of the fluids consumed in the UK are in the form of soft drinks, the study’s authors estimated that reducing salt intake would reduce soft drink sales by 13 million sodas per day, or a total of about 5 billion per year. In the United States, where we consume many more soft drinks, they estimated the impacts could be as high as 40 billion fewer sodas sold per year. Since some soft drink companies also own companies that specialize in highly salted snacks, the authors note these companies may be creating “an artificial controversy doubting the relationship between salt intake and blood pressure, presumably in the hope of stopping or slowing down any reduction in population salt intake to protect soft drink sales.”

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