21 replies to this topic

[stocks]

* Dietary guidelines recommend sodium restriction despite absence of clinical trial data.
* This observational study found significant associations of lower sodium with increased cardiovascular disease mortality.
* No subgroup observed to experience benefit from lower sodium diet.
* These data suggest the safety and effectiveness of lower dietary sodium merit further study.

Since our blood has about the same saltiness as seawater, the claim that our bodies cannot handle salt safely is absurd. We are in fact very good at it. Salt has been implicated in raised blood pressure but if that were really a concern, a much more constructive approach would be to add potassium (which lowers blood pressure) to food rather than removing salt. Both are natural food components.

However, the decision to adopt a low sodium diet should be made with awareness that there is no evidence that this approach to blood pressure reduction is either safe, in terms of ultimate health impact, or that it is as effective in producing cardioprotection as has been proven for some drug therapies.


http://www.abc.net.a...es/s1590896.htm

http://hyper.ahajour...t/full/36/5/890

[calmcookie]

Hi Stocks, Yes, I agree. The low sodium mantra is hogwash. The scientific community has known this for over 16 years, yet there are still hundreds of people, each day, who are advised to "eat a low salt diet." Best to you and salt your food to taste. Enjoy life. C.C. Secret Food Cures / Guided Memory ... www.LoveNewLife.com

Edited by calmcookie, 14 April 2007 - 10:50 AM.

[stocks]

Jogger dies of salt deficiency

They call it a "sodium" deficiency below to pull the wool over your eyes. But it is ordinary table salt they are talking about -- the stuff that has recently been heavily (and fraudulently) demonized.

'A man who died after completing the hottest London Marathon was named last night as a 22-year-old fitness instructor.

David Rogers became the ninth person to die in the race’s 27-year history after suffering from hyponatraemia, where high water intake results in a sodium deficiency.

Mr Rogers, of Milton Keynes, was one of 70 runners taken to hospital in sweltering temperatures. Running his first marathon, he collapsed after completing the race in 3 hours and 50 minutes. '

http://www.timesonli...icle1695634.ece

[TechSkeptic]

All things in moderation. The amount of salt required by someone running a marathon is obviously different than someone working at a desk job in an air conditioned building.

[maineman]

Salt research is really fascinating (if you're a geek like me). In the 1970s it was shown that if you are healthy, with normal kidney function, the more salt you ate the more your kidneys would process the salt, the more urine you would make and the salt would be excreted. This, along with quantum improvements in blood pressure pills, led doctors to back away from recommending strident salt restrictive diets. But science and truth are hard, and we need to be open to better information (those of us who have not snapped our minds shut with simplistic, "I've already made my mind up" notions). Over the past few decades we've learned much more about blood pressure. Specifically just how badly it kills at various levels; levels that are much lower than we previously believed. In addition great research has showed better blood pressure reduction with proper salt management and (more recently) with the DASH diet (Dietary Approch to Stop Hypertension), a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, etc. Even though we've shown great blood pressure reduction, still further research over time will show how those treated will fare. In other words, does reducing blood pressure through salt reduction and DASH, lead to a lifetime decrease in cardiovascular disease? Finally, and much more important, is that people are eating way more salt than they were just decades ago. The amounts are huge, if you look at a "typical" modern diet. There is way too much salt in fast food, restaurant food and even in so-called "healthy" foods (soups, for instance), in addition to snack foods. So for now, since high blood pressure remains one of the top causes of life-shortening, it would seem prudent to reducing salt intake, eathing a diet rich in a variety of healthy fruits and vegetables, and, if your blood pressure runs higher than 120/70 adding a blood pressure pill. And keep an open mind. mm ps when runners run they sweat and lose sodium. Inexperienced athletes sweat more than conditioned athletes. Then they drink water (which is salt-free) and dilute their remaining salt levels. This leads to a dangerous- and deadly - condition. Gatorade (which was made by Kidney specialist at U. Florida) is saline solution (with bad food coloring) and was designed to replenish electrolytes in sweating athletes (the Florida Gators). This would have likely saved this runner.

[maineman]

Stocks said:



* Dietary guidelines recommend sodium restriction despite absence of clinical trial data.
* This observational study found significant associations of lower sodium with increased cardiovascular disease mortality.
* No subgroup observed to experience benefit from lower sodium diet.
* These data suggest the safety and effectiveness of lower dietary sodium merit further study.



Stocks, you are quoting from an article last year by Cohen, et. al, in the Green Journal (American Journal of Medicine) that used 24 hour "recall of salt intake" as its primary methodology. In addition, the same article mis spoke regarding salt's affect on the renin-angiotnsin system. Salt excretion in the urine is the only way to measure salt intake variables. His article was widely blasted by leaders in the field of salt research.



In fact, the totality of evidence for reducing salt intake, including epidemiologic, intervention, migration, treatment, animal and genetic studies is now stronger than for ANY other dietary or lifestyle intervention. Any. (that includes fats, smoking, weight loss, etc.).



mm

[stocks]

In fact, the totality of evidence for reducing salt intake, including epidemiologic, intervention, migration, treatment, animal and genetic studies is now stronger than for ANY other dietary or lifestyle intervention. Any. (that includes fats, smoking, weight loss, etc.).

MM,
Thanks for your expert reply.
You seem to be missing a word in your sentence above ..."totality of evidence for reducing salt intake, is now stronger... " Stronger for what? longevity?? blood pressure reduction??

[maineman]

For reduction in cardiovascular mortality and morbidity (blood pressure, stroke, heart failure, heart attack). The author of the article you quoted from always ends his articles saying "outcome studies are needed". In fact, we do not have "outcome studies" for fat, weight, smoking, fish oil, fruits and vegetables or exercise. We cannot ethically put a population, say, on a high salt diet for the rest of their lives, based on what we know. Much of our advice comes from the inferential data mentioned above (epidemiology, migration, genetics, etc). In the case of salt, suffice it to say that even moderate reductions in salt lead to reductions in blood pressure. Moderate reductions in blood pressure lead to major reductions in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. What I can tell you is that we have more data on the benefits of lifelong reduction in salt than we do for any other known lifestyle intervention. mm

[OEXCHAOS]

I gotta tell you, I love my salt. I also gotta tell you that I know that it can do a number on you. I can feel it. What really honks me off is the salinated pork and chicken one basically HAS to buy when one shops at the grocery (which is why I don't). I find it inedible. Repugnant. My poor BiL gets ill from it (he has high bp). Mark

[stocks]

New study: Low-salt diet kills

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (May 4), reports that among 3,681 study subjects followed for as long as 23 years, the cardiovascular death rate was more than 50 percent higher among those on who consumed less salt.

The researchers concluded that their findings, “refute the estimates of computer model of lives saved and health care costs reduced with lower salt intake” and they do not support “the current recommendations of a generalized and indiscriminate reduction in salt intake at the population level.”

The new JAMA study didn’t break any ground with its finding. In fact, a host of studies published since 1995 fail to show any improved health outcomes for broad populations on reduced salt diets.

While the new study authors rightly acknowledge that “[our current findings] do not negate the blood-pressure lowering effects of a dietary salt reduction in hypertensive patients,” only a small portion of the population has that pathological condition.

Given that there is no scientific evidence showing dietary salt by itself to cause hypertension, as opposed to simply contributing to the condition once it already exists in individuals, a population-wide recommendation to reduce salt intake is simply not warranted.

Salt