This is an archive article published on March 20, 2023

Does salt consumption affect men and women differently?

While most people only need need a small amount of sodium, around 500mg (or a quarter teaspoon of salt) per day according to World Health Organization for contracting and relaxing muscles and maintining balance of minerals and water in the body, many tend to consume more

Does salt affect women more? (Source: Getty Images/Thinkstock)

3 min readNew DelhiMar 20, 2023 08:20 AM IST First published on: Mar 20, 2023 at 08:20 AM IST

It needs no retelling that excess salt intake has been associated with a host of health issues like high blood pressure, stroke, and even heart diseases. But can one gender be more sensitive to salt? A new study seems to indicate so. Published in AHA’s Hypertension Journal, the review suggests that women of all ages and ethnicities have a tendency to hold onto more salt, a phenomenon that only increases after menopause.

The study said that while salt-sensitive blood pressure (SSBP) is seen more in women of both premenopausal and postmenopausal stages, menopause exacerbates the severity and prevalence of SSBP, suggesting that female sex chromosomes predispose to and female sex hormones mitigate SSBP.

It analysed results from “both human and rodent studies which support the contribution of enhanced and inappropriate activation of the aldosterone-ECMR (endothelial cell mineralocorticoid receptor) axis promoting vascular dysfunction in females”.

While most people only need a small amount of sodium, around 500mg (or a quarter teaspoon of salt) per day for contracting and relaxing muscles and maintaining the balance of minerals and water in the body, according to World Health Organization (WHO), many tend to consume more. Salt comprises around 40 per cent sodium ions and 60 per cent chloride ions.

Here’s how hypertension occurs (Source: Getty Images/Thinkstock)

Dr Shrey Srivastav, MD (Internal Medicine), Sharda Hospital said that as per clinical and experimental data, dietary salt intake governs aldosterone production in a sex-specific manner that favours higher production in women, which may be a token mechanism contributing to the higher prevalence of salt-sensitive hypertension in women.

While stressing that lifestyle changes and looking for salt alternatives along with reducing salt intake may help such women, Dr Srivastav mentioned that MR antagonists (mineralocorticoid-receptor antagonists), an anti-hypertensive medicine, which is “currently not a first-line treatment for essential hypertension”, may be preferential targeted treatment for salt-sensitive hypertensive young women.

Also Read | What should be the ideal blood pressure reading for men, according to their age?

Concurring, Dr Priyanka Rohatgi, chief clinical dietician, Apollo Hospitals, Bangalore said that the relationship between “salt sensitivity and familial disposition to hypertension does differ according to the gender”. “Same amount of salt when eaten by both males and females showed signs of hypertension earlier. But there is increasing evidence that females of all ethnicities and ages are more salt sensitive than males because of hormonal changes which drive blood pressure up,’ said Dr Rohatgi.

To keep the sodium-potassium balance in check in order to ensure healthy blood flow, eat potassium-rich foods like bananas, potatoes, green leafy vegetables, and walnuts, dietitian Lavleen Kaur said in an earlier interaction. “Poppy and watermelon seeds are also recommended for maintaining blood pressure because they are high in magnesium and calcium,” she added.

Dr Rohatgi also mentioned that one must reduce their intake of processed foods strictly. “Focus on good physical activity and weight management,” said Dr Rohatgi.

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