Low-salt diets and insulin resistance

Morton Satin
Salt Institute
Salt and Health newsletter
Spring 2008
Our bodies require that every day we consume a tasty white granule to make sure our bodies can absorb insulin, needed to control our metabolism. Sugar, right? No. Salt. When the body doesn't get enough insulin, it cannot absorb glucose. This insulin resistance triggers diabetes in a process known as the "metabolic syndrome." Dietary therapy is routinely used to prevent or manage insulin resistance. The government's ACCORD trial examined dietary strategies to combat insulin resistance including a low-salt diet. But low-salt diets stimulate the production of the hormone renin in the kidney which increases insulin resistance. Once again, the myopic focus on salt reduction for hypertension ignored the multiple metabolic effects of reducing dietary sodium, increasing the health risk of those who took their doctor's advice to cut back on salt.