Questions & Answers on Dietary Salt and Health

Prominent medical experts (l to r) Drs. David A. McCarron , Suzanne Oparil , Alexander G. Logan & Michael H. Alderman answer common questions about salt and health issues. Interviews associated with a Webcast on June 9, 2005.

What exactly does the government recommend regarding salt intake? (x-ms-asf 2.00 MB)

Is the U.S. recommendation on salt the same as Canada's? (x-ms-asf 689.45 kB)

When blood pressure is reduced, is there lower incidence of cardiovascular events like heart attacks and strokes? (x-ms-asf 1.55 MB)

How does the evidence from randomized clinical trials square with current U.S. dietary recommendations regarding salt intake? (x-ms-asf 982.98 kB)

Do we expect science to provide as definitive answers to questions of lifestyle interventions as we do for drug therapies? (x-ms-asf 751.55 kB)

The ALLHAT study examined several anti-hypertensive drugs that worked to reduce blood pressure to compare their health outcomes. Is this a model for salt reduction intervention? (x-ms-asf 974.51 kB)

Apparently reducing dietary salt intake has multiple effects. What's most important? (x-ms-asf 570.92 kB)

Is it possible, practically, to conduct a prospective trial of health outcomes of sodium reduction? (x-ms-asf 1.29 MB)

The price escalation for pharmaceuticals has been horrendous. Are dietary interventions less costly and more cost-effective? (x-ms-asf 1.03 MB)

We've encouraged food processors to create low-sodium foods allowing consumers to choose low-sodium diets. What is the evidence that low-sodium foods lead to low-sodium diets? (x-ms-asf 582.21 kB)

Does our unpleasant experience with advocacy of Hormone Replacement Therapy offer any lessons for advice to reduce dietary salt? (x-ms-asf 689.44 kB)

A lot of early work on salt restriction in animals used rather extreme diets. Does that explain early enthusiasm for salt restriction? What have we learned? (x-ms-asf 872.90 kB)

Does the length of clinical trials of salt reduction affect the outcome? Do the longer trials show greater or diminished effect of restricting dietary salt? (x-ms-asf 356.41 kB)

Both salt restriction and using diuretic drugs aim to reduce salt and fluid volume in the body. So, are they the same? (x-ms-asf 935.00 kB)

Do studies suggest a relationship of dietary quality and salt-sensitivity? (x-ms-asf 728.97 kB)

Is salt-sensitivity in blood pressure a reproducible effect? (x-ms-asf 1.22 MB)

Is salt-sensitivity a genetic trait or do environmental factors affect blood pressure responsiveness to salt? (x-ms-asf 1.02 MB)

Dietary quality seems to be important in blood pressure. Do nutritional factors affect people in the same way? (x-ms-asf 1.90 MB)