“Salt Not As Bad As Claimed”
We have been repeatedly cautioned about excessive salt intake. But, what is the current thinking? Going back to 1988, the INTERSALT study compared urinary sodium levels with high blood pressure in 10,000 people and found no statistically significant association between them. In 2011, a study in JAMA compared the urinary sodium levels of 3,681 people with their risk of dying over the course of eight years. They found, surprisingly, that the more sodium their subjects ate, the less likely they were to die. Also, while blacks, diabetics and others more likely to have heart problems are urged to slash their salt intake, a 2013 Institute of Medicine (IOM) review showed there was limited evidence such an ultra-low salt diet helped, and that too little salt might increase the risk of heart trouble. The IOM panel said that too little salt might increase the risk of heart trouble. A new study suggests that we may not have to worry so much about how salty we like our food. It has been claimed that sodium, if often ingested in large quantities, can lead to a range of cardiovascular problems, including hypertension. The World Health Organization (WHO) say that a person should not consume more than 2 grams of sodium per day, which is about 5 grams of salt per day.
