November 23rd, 2011

From TIME:

Cutting back on salt is a key recommendation in the government’s latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) and has been a part of good health advice for decades. But, increasingly, the evidence suggests that that guidance may be too simplistic, and that there is a limit to the benefits of salt reduction on the heart.

For people at risk of heart disease, a new study finds, lowering sodium can actually harm their health. Researchers led by Martin O’Donnell, an associate professor at McMaster University in Toronto and a professor of translational medicine at the National University of Ireland, looked at data on more than 28,000 people with heart disease or at high risk of developing heart disease or diabetes, and found that both those who consumed too much sodium and those who consumed too little had increased risks of heart disease and heart-related death over the study’s four-and-a-half year follow-up.

The government currently advises adults to eat no more than 2,300 mg of sodium a day, and recommends that children, older Americans and those at risk of heart disease cut their sodium to 1,500 mg a day. The World Health Organization advises eating less than 2,000 mg a day.

Participants in the study, whose salt consumption was measured by the levels of sodium in their urine (most of the salt we eat is excreted), consumed on average 4,800 mg a day. When researchers compared the heart risks in the highest consumers (7,000 mg to 8,000 mg a day) to those at a baseline 4,000 mg per day, they found that high salt consumption led to a 9.7% increased risk of dying from a heart event and a 7% increased risk of having a heart attack.

Continue reading about salt consumption at online at TIME