Issue date: May 6, 2001
The growing case against salt
We eat 10 times more sodium than our Stone Age ancestors. And the dangers multiply.
You may think excess salt is dangerous only if you have high blood pressure. Not so. Recent research finds that too much salt can harm healthy people's hearts and brains and shorten their lives. Specifically, salt overload boosts your chances of high blood pressure, strokes, heart failure, kidney disease, diabetes, cataracts, brittle bones, asthma, dementia and early death.
Science's latest worries about salt:
Shorter life. "Salt sensitivity," a genetic condition, is an abnormal reaction to sodium that is aggravated by salt overload. Even if you don't have high blood pressure, salt sensitivity can reduce your survival odds as much as high blood pressure does, doubling your chances of early death, mainly from cardiovascular disease. That's the surprising conclusion of a study by Myron H. Weinberger, M.D., of the Indiana University School of Medicine.
One explanation: Excessive salt can enlarge the heart's left ventricle, even in the absence of high blood pressure, much research shows.
Most Americans have no clue whether they are salt-sensitive. The odds are 60% if you have high blood pressure, but one in four Americans with normal blood pressure is also salt- sensitive. There's no easy test for salt sensitivity. That makes it all the more urgent for everybody to watch salt intake, Weinberger says.
Higher blood pressure. There's new evidence that high salt intake is not optimum for healthy people. It's well known that cutting back on salt can reduce high blood pressure. But new research shows it also dramatically lowers "normal" blood pressure, on average, 5.6 points systolic (upper number) and 2.8 points diastolic (lower number). This shows that putting the lid on salt benefits people with and without high blood pressure, says Harvard researcher Frank Sacks, M.D.
Still, the impact is greatest on high blood pressure. People with high blood pressure who ate the DASH diet -- rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy foods -- and also slashed salt intake had drops of 11.5 points systolic and 5.7 diastolic, equaling reductions from prescription drugs.
More strokes. Curbing sodium helps prevent strokes by reducing high blood pressure, a major stroke trigger. Tulane University researchers report that an increase of just a teaspoon of salt a day nearly doubled the risk of fatal stroke in overweight people. High blood pressure also causes subtle brain damage that may lead to memory decline, reports Charles DeCarli, M.D., of the University of Kansas. Too much salt also can make tiny blood vessels in the brain more likely to leak. In Japan, where salt intake is very high, bleeding strokes are more common than in America.
Go to top
Coconutty Mahi-Mahi
(low in sodium)
1 pound mahi-mahi, cut in 4 pieces
(or use sea bass, swordfish, flounder)
1/2 cup "lite" coconut milk
1 Tb. natural, unsalted peanut butter
Dash hot pepper sauce, or more to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
1 banana, diced
8-ounce can crushed or tidbit
pineapple with juice
1/4 cup flaked sweetened coconut
1/3 cup crushed unsalted peanuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place fish
in a shallow baking dish or pie plate.
In a small bowl, microwave coconut milk
1 minute. Stir in peanut butter, hot sauce, salt and pepper. Add banana, pineapple. Pour over fish. Top with coconut. Bake 15 minutes. Brown under broiler if desired. Sprinkle with nuts; serve with brown rice.
Serves: 4.
Per serving: 291 calories, 22g carbohydrates, 12g fat (3.4g saturated), 26g protein, 2g fiber, 123mg sodium.
Go to top
A dissenting view
Not all researchers agree that everyone benefits from less sodium, especially people who eat lots of vegetables, fruit and calcium. If you're on blood pressure medication or concerned about your salt intake, check with your doctor.
Take action
How much sodium? Some researchers favor a lid of 1,500 milligrams a day, but the max urged by the American Heart Association is 2,500mg, slightly more than 1 teaspoon of salt. The typical American gets 3,500-4,000mg daily,
with some of us eating four times that.
Where our salt comes from
10% a natural part of healthful foods
15% salt shaker
75% "hidden" in processed and foods
To cut back ...
Remove the salt shaker from the table.
Check labels; sodium varies greatly by brand, and many sodium-packed foods don't taste salty. Example: There's more sodium per serving in Cheerios than in potato chips. Top salt offenders: frozen dinners, pizza, lunch meat, processed cheese, canned soup, ramen soup.
Expect at least 1,000mg sodium in a simple restaurant meal (2,000mg in Asian and Mexican eateries), says the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Go to top
Sources for this article
Salt sensitivity and shorter life
Hypertension 2001; 37:429-432.
Salt and blood pressure
Sacks, FM New England J. of Medicine, 2001 Jan 4;344 (1): 3-10
and
Svetkey LP, Sacks, FM. J Am Diet Assoc 1999;99(suppl 8):S96-104
Salt and strokes
He J. JAMA 1999 Dec 1; 282(21): 2027-34
and
Stroke; 1999, 30:529-536
Salt and free radical chemicals
Lenda DM, Am J Physiolo Heart Circ Physiol 2000 Jul; 279 (1):H 7-14
Salt and cataracts
Cumming RG, Am J. Epidemiol 2000 Mar 15; 151(6): 624-6
Salt and asthma
Gotshall R.W., Med Sci Sports Exerc 2000 Nov; 32(11): 1815-9
Salt and bone loss/kidney stones
Martini L.A. Clin Nephrol 2000 Aug; 54(2): 85-93
and
Cappuccio, FP. J Nephrol 2000 May-Jun; 13(3): 169-77
and
Nordin BE, Ann NY Acad Sci 1998 Nov 20:854:336-51
Photo by BRIAN LEATART for USA WEEKEND
|
