No Benefit in Sharply Restricting Salt, Panel Finds

[Nye Bevan]

Source: New York Times

In a report that undercuts years of public health warnings, a prestigious group convened by the government says there is no good reason based on health outcomes for many Americans to drive their sodium consumption down to the very low levels recommended in national dietary guidelines.

Those levels, 1,500 milligrams of sodium a day, or a little more than half a teaspoon of salt, were supposed to prevent heart attacks and strokes in people at risk, including anyone older than 50, blacks and people with high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic kidney disease — a group that makes up more than half of the American population.

.....

But the new expert committee, commissioned by the Institute of Medicine at the behest of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said there was no rationale for anyone to aim for sodium levels below 2,300 milligrams a day. The group examined new evidence that had emerged since the last such report was issued, in 2005.

“As you go below the 2,300 mark, there is an absence of data in terms of benefit and there begin to be suggestions in subgroup populations about potential harms,” said Dr. Brian L. Strom, chairman of the committee and a professor of public health at the University of Pennsylvania. He explained that the possible harms included increased rates of heart attacks and an increased risk of death.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/health/panel-finds-no-benefit-in-sharply-restricting-sodium.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

---

Excellent news. I find many low-salt foods quite unappetizing (low-salt soup, in particular, I find to be almost inedible).

[Archae]

1. I avoid anything "low-salt" or "low-sodium."

Almost always it's more expensive and a lot less flavor.

[Wait Wut]

2. I was told to eat more salt.

I have extreme hypotension. But, my father had high blood pressure and used that 'fake' salt for years. It didn't do a damn bit of good. The entire family was forced to eat 'low salt' everything available.

On the flip side, eating more salt doesn't seem to raise my blood pressure, either. Actually dealing with some crappy effects the past couple of weeks.

Thanks for the article. Though it's aimed at those with hypertension it's actually informative for those of us on the other side of the coin.

[Union Scribe]

3. Wow.

Totally agreed about the taste factor.

I'll probably still keep my salt intake down, as sodium is supposed to aggravate autoimmune disorders (but who knows now, maybe they'll find that isn't true either).

[upaloopa]

4. I have been eating to s of sAlt all my life. I turned 67 today

and have good blood preasure and cholester levels and no major disease.
I also don't drink or smoke or est meat.

[galileoreloaded]

5. carbs kill...nt

[tridim]

6. It's official! Everything is both good and bad for you. Screw it, I'm eating whatever I want.

Salt is one of those things I never worried about, I don't OD on it, but I don't skimp either. It's essential for flavor.

Drinking water is key.

[aaaaaa5a]

7. I have loved baked potatoes all my life.

I can eat them without any bad toppings. To this day I don't know if its good or bad for me. In the early 2000s eating a baked potato was like eating death itself. Now I have heard that potatoes are an excellent brain food, provide great energy, have more vitamin C than oranges and have no fat.




I give up!

[AnotherMcIntosh]

12. Potatoes are also an aphrodisiac,

or so I've been told.

[SharonAnn]

39. High carbohydrate, high glycemic index. I love them, too, but cut back.

[Akoto]

8. They'll have to pry my salt from my cold, dead, perfectly well-seasoned hands. n/t

[Heywood J]

26. That will be difficult. They should be well-preserved. (NT)

[davidthegnome]

9. Yep

Low-salt, or reduced salt soups are (IMO) disgusting. Or, unsalted, or low salt peanuts... I mean, who the heck wants to eat peanuts without salt?

I can't say I'm terribly surprised by all of this. What is good for us today will be bad for us tomorrow - and the reverse is probably true as well. I think a lot of the things we're told not to eat are okay in moderation. Of course, perhaps I'm wrong, maybe I just like the occasional cheese burger or steak too much to care. Hmm.

[sir pball]

10. I never knew 1500mg is just a half teaspoon..

I put more than that in a single serving of mashed potatoes. On a busy night, I'll use almost two pounds...I guess don't eat out, anywhere, if you're watching it.

[BlueJazz]

13. "On a busy night, I'll use almost two pounds"

[sir pball]

16. We serve 3-400 on a busy night

So it's not as bad as it sounds.

[BlueJazz]

17. Oh..sorry..I was thinking of a much smaller crowd.

[Rozlee]

11. They can never make up their minds.

I tend to consider that anything that's not a GMO and that doesn't give me botulism isn't too bad. I'll stick with that for now.

[angstlessk]

14. I do believe doctors or whomever either short or invest in those things

they declare are either good for us or bad...they make money either way

[AtheistCrusader]

15. *shrug* Everything in moderation.

That's the best I can do.

[RebelOne]

18. I was a heavy user of salt throughout my whole life,

but after learning that I had high blood pressure when I was in my late 50s, I cut back on the salt. I only use Morton's low sodium salt now.

[flvegan]

19. Of course not, that might make folks rethink buying frozen/boxed shit to eat.

Come on, shovel that processed crap down. That goes for my very own vegan crowd. Those Boca/Morningstar/Gardein frozen convenience items? Yeah, lots and lots of salt. Same goes for the non-veg*n crap down the aisle.

[SoapBox]

20. I simply don't believe it...

First, those that want to salt, salt, salt their foods...GO FOR IT! In fact, ADD even MORE!!!!! And let us know how that's
working out for you in the future.

Second, I can feel numerous things going on in my body when I consume foods heavy in sodium...headaches...swelling of
my hands and/or feet...my lips and mouth "burn"...being really thirsty...to name a few.

No one, even this study will ever convince me that a diet "higher" in whole foods, whole grains, minimally processed foods,
limiting meats, limiting sugars and "white" carbs and limiting your sodium intake...is not better for you than living
on processed foods/fast food/canned and frozen prepared foods.

Yup! Call me a non-believer.

For those that love all that salt, soda, Whoppers...eat away...but don't expect me to contribute one single penny towards your
eventually needed healthcare.

p.s...bottom line, cook from scratch.

[Heywood J]

27. Are you describing MSG? (NT)

[Kablooie]

21. The study was funded by Morton wasn't it?

Oh no, my mistake.
It was funded by H. Salt.

They also found there was no benefit in restricting fish and chips.

[Kolesar]

24. yeah, all those fascists at: the Institute of Medicine at the behest of the Centers for Disease Con

eom

[Scootaloo]

22. Canned low-salt soup is vile

So is canned salted soup. it's just that all the salt covers up the -other- crap they put in that stuff

[Kolesar]

23. I always thought the cardio-health implications of salt were b/s

My mother kept my father on a low sodium diet until he died. He hated the food.

[caseymoz]

25. There are so many vested interests in food . . .

. . . that getting to the complete truth is impossible.

Sodium does raise the blood pressure, and it probably isn't good for the kidneys, but the chloride ion is an absolutely essential nutrient. Though it probably doesn't do you any harm in excessive amounts, you're body is happy with an abundance of it. Salt is the yin and yang, that's the joke nature has played on us.

If you stay away from processed food, you could really afford to use salt to your heart's content, no pun intended. Processed food has incredible amounts of salt in it.

If you take that out of your diet, you don't have to measure.

[Swede Atlanta]

28. I wonder if the study was funded, in part, by the salt and fast food industries......

despite being attributed to the CDC...

They obviously didn't include me in their study. Up to a year ago I was carrying about 10 extra pounds for a man of my height and age. I was on 3 blood pressure medications that was, at best, keeping my lowest daily readings to about 128/85. My salt intake was between 2,000 and 2,500 mg per day. I was relatively active, working out 2-3 x a week including good cardio.

I went on the DASH diet, reducing my sodium intake to below 1,500 mg per day and increased my cardio to 4-5 x a week. At the same time I intentionally took myself off of one of my medications. Surprisingly the combination of reduced sodium and slightly increased cardio kept my bp stable. I began to see less water retention, especially in my legs.

After I had lost about 3 pounds I took myself off a second bp medication, maintaining low sodium intake and steady cardio. My blood pressure was stable and in fact began to trend down so my average lowest reading was 125/82. I saw little to no water retention.

After I had lost the next 3 pounds (I would like to be leaner but I am at what is considered normal based on height and age) and maintaining the reduced sodium intake and steady on the exercise, I stopped with the last bp medication.

My blood pressure remained stable and after about another month with no additional weight loss, just maintaining lower sodium intake and exercise, my blood pressure is now averaging 118/76 mornings and 122/82 afternoons and evenings and has been stable the past 6 months.

Obviously there were three things at play for me - dropping 10 pounds, reducing sodium and increasing exercise. I am sure all 3 have something to do with my results but I am absolutely convinced that the reduced sodium was critical to my success.

I think publicly pushing the results of this study is a huge mistake. We know that the American diet is super-saturated with salt and sugar. When I went on reduced sodium diet I had to completely change the way I cooked and seasoned foods. I had to throw away an entire pantry of canned goods, crackers, frozen food, etc. because of the high sodium content.

At first cooking from a low-salt cookbook was a challenge because the food tasted bland. I kept telling myself it needed some "salt". But gradually over 2-3 months I found that foods naturally have a wonderful variety of flavors and nuances including natural saltiness. Now when I go out to eat and ask the server to request no salt be added during preparation the food still comes to me and I can hardly eat it because it tastes like I have poured a cup of salt on it.

[marmar]

29. It wouldn't surprise me these days.

Just look at the FDA. There are corporate fingerprints on just about every government agency.

[sinkingfeeling]

30. I'm so happy! I love salty stuff!

[Imajika]

31. So Bloomberg's jihad against salt was pretty pointless...

Is NYC still wasting money on anti-salt ad's in the subways?

[Swede Atlanta]

33. No, I don't think efforts to get Americans to reduce salt in their diets is pointless....

See my post above.....I am certain that reducing the amount of sodium in my diet (along with dropping a few extra pounds and marginally increasing my exercise) enabled me to get rid of 3 bp medications that weren't even keeping my bp that low.

We know salt not only increases blood pressure but it is hard on the kidneys and it causes water retention which in turn is hard on the heart and other systems.

We all need sodium but reducing to 1,500 mg per day is not that hard. It takes changing the way you shop and prepare food. I am enjoying tastes in foods I haven't known for years because the nuances and subtleties are not overwhelmed by salt.

[mattnapa]

32. Times up

I see no mention of the time frame for these studies. In case people have not noticed the technique of using very short time frames for theses studies has been a common practice for deceit by the corporate money that often sponsors such studies. The GMO studies have been the most famous example of this by usually ending their studies after only three months of research. This may or may not be the case but people need to start putting on their critical thinking caps when being exposed to these studies

[PADemD]

36. 4.7 years

Another study, published in 2011, followed 28,800 subjects with high blood pressure ages 55 and older for 4.7 years and analyzed their sodium consumption by urinalysis.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/health/panel-finds-no-benefit-in-sharply-restricting-sodium.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

[tblue]

34. It's NOT saying, 'Eat lots of salt'!

It's saying diets with >1500 mg of sodium demonstrate no improvement over those with >2300 mg when it comes to lowering BP, etc.

Staying >2300 offers some benefits and that sounds like the target this article is suggesting. It's about 3/4 of a teaspoon (my rough estimate). That's still not a lot of salt. Noticing in this article suggests eating more than the tiniest bit of sodium/salt if you're in the target demo.

[Nye Bevan]

35. Nope. Everything in moderation.

It just means that people with normal health don't need to be complete anti-salt neurotics.

And as one of my favorite uncles always said, "when the good Lord wants you, He'll take you".

[marlakay]

37. Eating and drinking in moderation

And exercise, the key to health.

Exercise burns off excess sugars and salt in your body.