Good news, salt lovers: an article in today's Journal of the American Medical Association has declared that sodium, one of the most demonized dietary ingredients, might not be so evil after all.
For many years, the medical community has encouraged people to keep sodium intake as low as possible to minimize risk of hypertension and heart disease, but avoiding sodium can be challenging in a world For individuals with existing hypertension, cutting back on the salt definitely can help reduce blood pressure. But what about healthy individuals? Is it critical that they cut down on the sodium? The study in JAMA, conducted by the European Project on Genes in Hypertension, addresses that question.
The study followed 3681 individuals who were free from cardiovascular disease at the start of the study. At baseline, researchers measured blood pressure, and sodium concentration in the urine, a marker of sodium intake. The subjects were then followed, on average, for about 8 years, and recorded incidence of heart disease and hypertension. What they found was somewhat surprising -- the subjects that had the lowest urinary salt excretion (reflective of the lowest sodium intake) had the highest rate of death from cardiovascular disease. Baseline sodium excretion did predict changes in systolic blood pressure, but not diastolic blood pressure. The authors conclude that the recommendation for healthy people to reduce sodium intake may not be necessary.
So, break out the pretzels and chips, right? Well, there are two important things to note here. First, this study was conducted in healthy adults, so the salt-reduction recommendation for people with high blood pressure still stands. Second, and more importantly, the subjects in this study were 100% Caucasian Europeans. This means that these results may not necessarily translate to other racial groups. In fact, there is substantial evidence that African Americans are more sensitive to sodium, and are at higher risk of hypertension due to a high sodium diet. Further research in different racial groups before we can fully revisit sodium recommendations.
Reference: Stolarz-Skrzypek et al. (2011) JAMA 305:1777-1785
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