New Study Casts Further Doubt on Risk of Death from Higher Salt Intake

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http://www.aecom.yu.edu/home/news.asp?id=197

 

Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University

 

Contrary to long-held assumptions, high-salt diets may not increase

the risk of death, according to investigators from the Albert Einstein

College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. They reached their

conclusion after examining dietary intake among a nationally

representative sample of adults in the U.S. The Einstein researchers

actually observed a significantly increased risk of death from

cardiovascular disease (CVD) associated with lower sodium diets. They

report their findings in the advance online edition of the Journal of

General Internal Medicine.

 

The researchers analyzed data from the Third National Health and

Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), which was conducted by the

federal government among a nationally representative sample of U.S.

adults. These data were then compared against death records that had

been collected by the government through the year 2000. The sample of

approximately 8,700 represented American adults who were over 30 years

of age at the time of the baseline survey (1988-1994) and were not on

a special low-salt diet.

 

After adjusting for known CVD risk factors, such as smoking, diabetes

and blood pressure, the one-fourth of the sample who reported

consuming the lowest amount of sodium were found to be 80% more likely

to die from CVD compared to the one-fourth of the sample consuming the

highest level of sodium. The risk for death from any cause appeared

24% greater for those consuming lower salt, but this latter difference

was not quite large enough to dismiss the role of chance.

 

" Our findings suggest that for the general adult population, higher

sodium is very unlikely to be independently associated with higher

risk of death from CVD or all other causes of death, " says Dr. Hillel

W. Cohen, lead author of the study and associate professor of

epidemiology and population health at Einstein.

 

Since the first NHANES survey in the early 1970s, data from NHANES

have been used extensively to describe patterns of nutrition and

health in the U.S. The results from this current study are consistent

with findings reported previously from two earlier NHANES surveys.

While the federal government currently repeats NHANES surveys every

two years, NHANES III is the latest available survey that can be

compared with later death records.

 

Since NHANES III was an observational study and not a clinical trial,

no definite conclusions about cause and effect were possible, says Dr.

Cohen. " However, our findings do again raise questions about the

usefulness or evensafety of universal recommendations for lower salt

diets for all individuals, regardless of their blood pressure status

or other health characteristics, " he cautions.

 

Other Einstein researchers on the study were Dr. Susan M. Hailpern and

Dr. Michael H. Alderman.

 

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I will suggest sea salt though.

 

best,

navegante