Low sodium not so okay

For years Americans have been cautioned about the potential risks of consuming too much salt, but a team of New York scientists has conclude...

For years Americans have been cautioned about the potential risks of consuming too much salt, but a team of New York scientists has concluded that a low-sodium diet may do more cardiovascular harm than good for people who are not at high risk for hypertension. Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx say participants in a large government-sponsored clinical trial who restricted daily salt intake to less than 2,300 mg were 37 percent more likely to die of cardiovascular disease.

The finding, reported in the American Journal of Medicine, is at loggerheads with prevailing medical wisdom and government recommendations. Lead researcher Dr Hillel Cohen theorises that low-sodium diets raise the kidney’s levels of renin, a protein involved with increasing blood pressure when sodium levels are low. Cohen also theorises that low-sodium diets set the stage for diabetes by encouraging insulin resistance, the inability of the hormone to control blood sugars. Cohen’s team included Michael Alderman, a researcher who for nearly two decades has looked into the negative health effects of low-sodium diets.

Dr Jeffrey Cutler of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute said consumers should abide by government guidelines on salt intake: no more than 2,300 milligrams daily. Cohen said his study is not the definitive answer. ‘‘We’re raising a yellow warning flag here,’’ Cohen said on February 21. ‘‘It’s simply a warning flag, that the evidence behind the guidelines need to be investigated.’’

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In his research, which involved culling information from a massive federal database, Cohen studied the diets, salt intake levels, weights, ages and ethnicities of participants and found deaths were more likely among those who restricted salt intake.

Response to Cohen’s study from the medical community was strong. “Actually, too much salt leads to high blood pressure, and high blood pressure leads to cardiovascular events,” such as heart attacks and strokes, said Dr David Brown, chief of cardiovascular medicine at Stony Brook University Medical Center. He added that people in the study may have been predisposed to cardiovascular disease. They may not have fared poorly because of their diet.

Dr Humayun Chaudhry, chairman of medicine at New York College of Osteopathic Medicine in Old Westbury, said the findings send an unhealthy message: “I certainly would not want any of my patients or anyone with hypertension or heart disease to increase salt intake,” Chaudhry said. He added high blood pressure is silent and underlies a vast number of heart attacks and strokes globally.

(LAT-WP)

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