Salt: Not so bad for you?

[Katy Lied]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/he...pagewanted=all

This article from the NY Times said it is no longer clear that minimal salt is good for you.

One 2008 study the committee examined, for example, randomly assigned 232 Italian patients with aggressively treated moderate to severe congestive heart failure to consume either 2,760 or 1,840 milligrams of sodium a day, but otherwise to consume the same diet. Those consuming the lower level of sodium had more than three times the number of hospital readmissions — 30 as compared with 9 in the higher-salt group — and a more than twice as many deaths — 15 as compared with 6 in the higher-salt group.

Another study, published in 2011, followed 28,800 subjects with high blood pressure aged 55 and older for 4.7 years and analyzed their sodium consumption by urinalysis. The researchers reported that the risks of heart attacks, strokes, congestive heart failure and death from heart disease increased significantly for those consuming more than 7,000 milligrams of sodium a day and for those consuming less than 3,000 milligrams of sodium a day.

There are physiological consequences of consuming little sodium, said Dr. Michael H. Alderman, a dietary sodium expert at Albert Einstein College of Medicine who was not a member of the committee. As sodium levels plunge, triglyceride levels increase, insulin resistance increases, and the activity of the sympathetic nervous system increases. Each of these factors can increase the risk of heart disease.

[SandYFan]

It is too cynical of me to completely disregard all of these studies? Seems like they are constantly contradicting each other. Anyone who tries to change their eating habits based on these studies must be exhausted.

[Jeff Lebowski]

It is too cynical of me to completely disregard all of these studies? Seems like they are constantly contradicting each other. Anyone who tries to change their eating habits based on these studies must be exhausted.

Seems like they are simply saying that while too much sodium is still bad for you, don't go too far in reducing salt intake. I dare bet that very few people get too little sodium.

[Pheidippides]

Seems like they are simply saying that while too much sodium is still bad for you, don't go too far in reducing salt intake. I dare bet that very few people get too little sodium.

I've tracked my intake before. Even when I am doing a full-on whole foods vegetarian diet, getting enough sodium and other salts is not a problem unless I am working out for hours on end. Too little salt is a problem that is pretty much limited to endurance athletes anymore, at least in the developed world.

[ERCougar]

This is why we need a thread dedicated to that book and interpreting studies.

It's food for thought. There are so many confounding factors here (did the lower salt intake group consume fewer vegetables and more sweets, for example), that you can't draw a conclusion, but it's a step.