Salt & Human Health

As Mort blogged earlier this morning, the Salt Institute gets calls constantly from the media. In an exchange yesterday with another Chicago area reporter writing on salt and health, I drew an analogy that may help explain the basic point of the Salt Institute's advocacy on salt and health. See what you think.

We argue that the relevant question that should be asked with regard to a public health advisory to reduce dietary sodium is "Will cutting salt intake improve health?" Instead, some frame the question as "Will cutting salt improve blood pressure?" They aren't the same thing. When you cut salt, you "buy" all the consequences, intended and unintended, that are triggered as the body recognizes it is consuming less salt.

I likened public confusion on the issue with the current flap over national security policy. Those who characterize our national security challenge as combatting terrorism have a very different worldview from those who define our challenge in terms of our engagement in Iraq. It's not a matter of patriotism; it's a matter of focus and context.

In the war against cardiovascular mortality, some would test our weapons systems for their impact on overall health and mortality; others would focus on the specific problem of blood pressure. Without doubt, blood pressure is related to cardiovascular health, but it is one of several important "theaters." It's important to identify specifically and correctly our rules of engagement before we sally forth to meet the enemy. We want to avoid any "friendly fire" casualties.

Unfortunately, experts lack consensus over the right questions to ask in both challenges: national security and cardiovascular health.

Posted by Dick Hanneman at 10:34 AM | Permalink

While hydration experts in the medical community seem to be shifting concern away from ensuring proper hydration (they argue that people generally get enough water and, if anything, too many electrolytes), a new study by Audra Boscoe et al. in Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation published in BioMed Central (Open Access) estimates that 3.2 million to 6.1 million Americans suffer from hyponatremia (a fluid/electrolyte imbalance disorder often associated with consuming too much water and not enough salt). Direct costs of treating hyponatremia are $1.6 billion to $3.6 billion. Hardly insubstantial.

Posted by Dick Hanneman at 04:52 PM | Permalink

Twenty years ago, public concern about dietary salt intake was the nation's top consumer concern. A Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive poll published in the Sept. 26. Journal shows that concern eroding. First, in the 1990s, salt fell to second place behind concern for fat intake. Now, with a vocal focus on obesity, consumers' top focus remains on fat, but sugar an overall nutritional value have jumped ahead of salt and calories also register high among food shoppers consulting the nutrition label. "Sodium (salt)" is now only the fifth highest nutrient of concern at 68% (fat, 83%; calories 76%; sugar, 72%, and nutritional value, 69%). Parents reading food labels to make food choices focus on sugar (82%), nutritional value (80%) and fat (73%) more than "sodium (salt)" (66%). Six in ten Americans confess to not even trying to follow the national Dietary Guidelines. At a symposium Sept 19-21 at Tufts University, SI president Dick Hanneman reports hearing national nutrition experts agreeing that not more than 3-4% of Americans are eating diets conforming to the Dietary Guidelines.

Posted by Dick Hanneman at 04:51 PM | Permalink