The Salt Conspiracy?
It was somewhat of a surprise to read the Washington Post's latest conspiracy theory - it must be the influence of the Da Vinci Code.
No one has ever disputed the impact of salt on blood pressure, nor for that matter has anyone ever disputed the impact of the myriad stresses we routinely encounter on blood pressure. There is, however, a great debate on whether these impacts per se lead to negative health events.
Hypertension is not a proxy for death, nor is it a surrogate for cardiac disease. Yet the anti-salt lobby ask us to believe it is, without the benefit of any scientific data. They rely exclusively on epidemiological studies using hypertension as an end point, ignoring all other variables. They rely on the famous Intersalt Study (Brit. Med J., v. 297, July, 1988) which compared per capita salt consumption to blood pressure in populations around the world. What they did not do was compare salt consumption to longevity. Using the same Intersalt data on salt consumption and the US Census Bureau data on life expectancy across the world, the resulting curve draws the inescapable conclusion that those populations which consume the most salt live the longest! No joke, no fudging figures - those populations which consume the most salt live the longest.
Of course, there are many other factors involved in longevity just as there are many other factors associated with blood pressure, but it still remains that the more salt a population consumes, the longer they live.
Indeed, one of the most outspoken and effective British anti-salt advocates, when confronted with data from Japan, whose citizens are amongst the highest per capita salt consumers in the world and also have the longest lifespan, dismissed this simply by stating that they would probably live even longer if they didn't eat so much salt. Some analysis, some science, no?
Before we all go around hoisting placards claiming Bland is Grand, let's consider the science and the data a bit more carefully.
