"Salt OK for Health"
The anti-salt crowd has been trying to expand its messaging globally, but a story in this week's "Health Minutes" by Dr. Norman Swan on Australia's most popular station ABC NewsRadio sets the record straight. Cutting through the charges implicating salt in blood pressure changes, Dr. Swan puts the question exactly right:
Salt gets a shake in a large study, reinforcing previous research which questions the value of a low salt diet - and suggests it might even be harmful.
I know. One day they’re telling you one thing and the next the opposite. The trouble is that with salt, doctors and dietitians have assumed because a low salt intake may help blood pressure, that it saves lives.A 13 year follow up of 7000 people has found that in most groups, the lower the salt intake, the higher the risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke - independent of other lifestyle factors. The study wasn’t a trial; it observed people’s health rather than tested a proposition, so had potential problems. But the authors say that applies to almost all the studies which supposedly justify reducing salt and that none, they claim, show that a low salt diet saves lives.
The reason for the possible risk is that a low salt diet may increase artery damaging hormones.
So while it’s not carte blanche for salt, it’s probably okay to enjoy the taste of food again.
