New Diet-health outcomes study silent on salt
For years, the Salt Institute has been touting the findings of a 2004 study by Dr. Ashima Kant on "Dietary Patterns and Health Outcomes
." We've argued that
no single nutrient can explain the effect of diet on health (pdf 216.70 kB)
and that
the diet provides context to food choices (pdf 405.43 kB)
. Healthy diets have predicted positive health outcomes and that's the advocacy position taken by the Salt Institute
. We've pointed to clear evidence that the best marker for a "quality diet" is potassium consumption
.
Dr. Kant has a new study, "Patterns of recommended dietary behaviors predict subsequent risk of mortality in a large cohort of men and women in the United States ," Kant concludes (see Table 2) that potassium and calcium are strongly related to overall dietary quality. No surprise there. What about sodium? A month earlier, another study of adherence to US Dietary Guidelines found that those consuming "better" diets actually consumed more salt (even though that diminished their overall diet quality score). So, Kant's findings would offer useful comparison.
Not.
Kant reported lots of nutrient variables including energy, energy from fat, alcohol, fiber, folate, Vitamins C and E, and carotene in addition to calcium and potassium. But not sodium.
Could it be another "inconvenient truth"?
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