Salt may affect more than blood pressure: study

Thu Apr 19, 2007

Consuming less salt can not only lower blood pressure, but may reduce
the risk of heart disease overall, researchers reported on Thursday.

They found that people with borderline-high blood pressure who reduced
their sodium intake by 25 to 35 percent lowered their risk of total
cardiovascular disease by 25 percent. And this lower risk lasted for
10 to 15 years.

Dr. Nancy Cook and colleagues at Brigham and Women's Hospital and
Harvard Medical School in Boston studied more than 3,000 people who
took part in a study of a low-salt diet and its effects on high blood
pressure.

Those who were assigned to a low-salt diet had a lower risk of all
various kinds of cardiovascular disease even 10 to 15 years later,
they report in the online version of the British Medical Journal.

They were also 20 percent less likely to have died than people
assigned to a normal diet.

"Our study provides unique evidence that sodium reduction might
prevent cardiovascular disease and should dispel any residual concern
that sodium reduction might be harmful," they wrote.

Salt intake is clearly linked to high blood pressure and the National
Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which paid for the study, recommends
that Americans cut down on sodium.

More than 65 million U.S. adults -- one in three -- have unacceptably
high blood pressure, above levels of 140/90, the NHLBI said. Another
59 million have prehypertension -- defined as blood pressure of 120/80
or above.

The average U.S. and British diets contain far more than the 2,300 mg
daily recommended by the NHLBI and expert groups.

Cook's team said salt may affect artery and heart health by ways that
go beyond blood pressure. Sodium may make blood vessels less able to
expand and contract and may toughen heart cells, they said.