Reducing salt cuts cardiovascular disease risk: study

[Al-khiyal]

Cutting back on salt intake could lower the risk of developing heart disease by 25 per cent, in addition to lower blood pressure benefits, say researchers who studied people with borderline high blood pressure.

Researchers in the U.S. looked at more than 3,000 people in two trials with pre-hypertension who reduced their sodium intake by 25 per cent to 35 per cent, compared with control groups that did not.

Since participants had pre-hypertension, they were already at higher risk for developing cardiovascular disease. Reducing salt also reduced that risk of dying from cardiovascular disease by 20 per cent over the next 10 to 15 years, the team reported in Friday's online issue of the British Medical Journal.

Those who reduced their sodium intake from about 10 grams to seven grams also tended to stick with the lower salt diet in the long term, Dr. Nancy Cook of Harvard Medical School in Boston and her colleagues found.

"Results of our follow-up study reinforce recommendations to lower dietary sodium intake as a means of preventing cardiovascular disease in the general population," the study's authors concluded.

"Our study provides unique evidence that sodium reduction might prevent cardiovascular disease and should dispel any residual concern that sodium reduction might be harmful."

About 77 per cent of study participants provided detailed health information, including 200 who said they had a cardiovascular problem. Sodium levels were measured in urine tests during the trial, and participants reported blood pressure, weight and sodium intake for the follow-up.

The study is the first that was large and long enough to assess the effects of low salt diet on cardiovascular problems using data from randomized trials, the study's authors said.

Beyond salt's established affect on blood pressure, it may also affect arteries. Sodium may reduce the ability of blood vessels to expand and contract and toughen heart cells, other studies suggested.

Last week, a report from Statistics Canada said Canadians of all ages were putting themselves at risk of developing serious health risks by opting for salty hotdogs and hamburgers along with sodium-packed pizzas and submarine sandwiches.

In total, the national Canadian average for daily sodium intake registered at 3,092 milligrams, one-third more than the recommended daily limit. The average American and British diet also exceeds the recommended limit.

According to the U.S.-based Institute of Medicine, exceeding the recommended upper limit of 2,300 milligrams of sodium daily for people over the age of 14 can lead to health problems including hypertension, which can cause strokes, heart attacks and kidney failure.

Reducing salt cuts cardiovascular disease risk: study

[Al-khiyal]

British Medical Journal

"Long term effects of dietary sodium reduction on cardiovascular disease outcomes"

(.pdf file)

[sania]

What about side effects of reducing sodium intake?

Such as lower IQ, slower intellectual response time, larger reaction time of motor action, lethargy, listlessness, lower libido,depression, carelessness, amnesia and so on...?

[amalgamate]

What about side effects of reducing sodium intake?

Such as lower IQ, slower intellectual response time, larger reaction time of motor action, lethargy, listlessness, lower libido,depression, carelessness, amnesia and so on...?

I believe that shows up when one is completely sodium deficient. they fail to consume even their required daily dosage of sodium. To 'lower' one's intake of sodium is a good thing (especially in such a Fast Food Nation, USA)-but to avoid it all together is harmful.

[sania]

Yeah..That is right.

Just enough sodium..Not more.

Probably salt need not be added to foods at all.
No other animal adds salt to their food.
Salt that is naturally present in the ingredients may be sufficient for the healthy functioning of body & mind.

Humans add additional salt only for giving taste to the food.

How is that only the human tongue relishes addtional salt?

I have seen that dogs and cats do not want to eat foods with salt and chillies

[amalgamate]

really? pets refuse foods with added salt? hmmm.. i'd like to try that on my cat then and see if it will stop harrasing us since it refuses to eat its cat food and strives to take our food instead. he's driving us nuts!!


we need to do something to steer him back into eating his own food and not requesting alternatives.

hehe.. this calls for an experiment- let's do it!!


first step: Hypothesis.

let's develope a hypothesis and test it out. right now we ran out of leftovers so there is this sliced turkey package that we have but don't eat because evidently it is a "honey-rasberry" flavor we some how overlooked that label and witch is really nasty. So we give it to the cat whenever his highness calls from outside.

Tentitive Hypothesis: Adding salt to the turkey slices will repell the cat from eating them them the next time around and therefore he will return to his own bowl of cat food to complete his meal.

sounds good? i'm going to try it out... stay tuned

[amalgamate]

Well, this morning the cat was hungry and calling from outside (although he had cat food in his bowl). so I took out the turkey slices, tore them to smaller pieces, added two dashes of salt, mixed them together to distribute the sat and placed them over his food bowl.

That mutant feline gobbled them up like there's no tomorrow.

on the nutrition label of the package it says each slice has 200mg of sodium. So adding more sodium didn't even hinder the cat's speed in eating it up!

We cannot get 'accurate' results unless we repeat this test few times. so i guess i'll do that and get back to y'all for recording the results.


~Sigh~