Low-Salt Diet May Not Help Heart

Study: More Deaths Seen With Sodium Restriction

(WebMD) 
The researchers concluded that people who reported restricting daily salt intake to less than 2,300 milligrams a day were significantly more likely to have died from cardiovascular causes than people who ate more salt, even after adjusting for total calorie intake, age, smoking status, and other known risk factors for heart disease.

The link between low-salt consumption and a higher risk of death was not seen among nonwhites, people who were obese, and people who were younger than 55 when enrolled in the study. But no single subgroup appeared to benefit from eating a lower-sodium diet, Cohen says.

The findings were published online in The American Journal of Medicine.

“Many things can reduce cardiovascular risk,” he says. “We know that getting people to stop smoking can have a big impact, and we know that getting them to exercise seems to be very important. We think prevention efforts should focus on the things that have been proven to work.”

Salt Affects People Differently

He adds that his study and the recent WHI findings emphasize the complex relationship between the foods we eat and health.

“Some people may very well benefit from eating a low-salt diet, but there is little clinical evidence supporting a blanket recommendation that everyone needs to eat this way,” he says.

Lichtenstein agrees that it is increasingly clear that salt affects different people differently.

“There is a tremendous amount of data showing that there is a wide range of individual variation in the response to salt,” she says. “The problem is we don’t know who the hyper-responders are.”

Lichtenstein is a professor of nutrition at Tufts University and a member of the American Heart Association nutrition committee.

The AHA recommends not only restricting salt, but eating a diet that is high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat or fat-free dairy products to lower cardiovascular risk.

Studies suggest that following such a diet can have a modest but potentially important impact on blood pressure.

Lichtenstein lists not smoking, maintaining a healthy body weight, getting plenty of exercise, and limiting the amount of saturated and trans fats in the diet as the most important things people can do to reduce their risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.

“If people eat a diet like the one we recommend that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fish, they probably won’t be consuming a lot of sodium,” she says.

Sources: Cohen, H.W., The American Journal of Medicine, Feb. 22, 2006; vol 119: online edition. Hillel W. Cohen, MPH, DrPH, associate professor of epidemiology and population health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, N.Y. Alice Lichtenstein, DSc, professor of nutrition, Tufts University; American Heart Association nutrition committee.