Bad Science-Salt and Cardiovascular Disease

Angela

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Again. I knew it. I've been enjoying my salt (within reason) and ignoring this recommendation of less than 2 g/day for years. Why? My mother always hated salty food, never added it. Regardless, when she was diagnosed with high blood pressure, the doctor first tried just taking her off salt, before giving her medication. Being the disciplined person she was, she totally stopped using salt. After a year? No change whatsoever. At precisely the same age, I got high blood pressure. It was programmed into my freaking genes. I told him to give me the same medication they gave my mother, but he insisted on trying God knows how many. What worked? The one that worked for my mother. (Doctors are used to thinking they're always the smartest person in the room. They're not. Sometimes they need to be reminded that they didn't believe in germs at one point, and didn't wash their hands before treating patients.)

A lot of dietary guidelines are just off, based on studies that weren't randomized and had too few subjects. Just eat a balanced diet and get off your duff. Oh, and as my dad used to say, push away from the table as soon as the actual hunger is gone.

See:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31376-X/fulltext

"[FONT=&quot]WHO recommends that populations consume less than 2 g/day sodium as a preventive measure against cardiovascular disease, but this target has not been achieved in any country. This recommendation is primarily based on individual-level data from short-term trials of blood pressure (BP) without data relating low sodium intake to reduced cardiovascular events from randomised trials or observational studies. We investigated the associations between community-level mean sodium and potassium intake, cardiovascular disease, and mortality.[/FONT][h=3]Methods[/h][FONT=&quot]The Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology study is ongoing in 21 countries. Here we report an analysis done in 18 countries with data on clinical outcomes. Eligible participants were adults aged 35–70 years without cardiovascular disease, sampled from the general population. We used morning fasting urine to estimate 24 h sodium and potassium excretion as a surrogate for intake. We assessed community-level associations between sodium and potassium intake and BP in 369 communities (all >50 participants) and cardiovascular disease and mortality in 255 communities (all >100 participants), and used individual-level data to adjust for known confounders."

"Sodium intake was associated with cardiovascular disease and strokes only in communities where mean intake was greater than 5 g/day. A strategy of sodium reduction in these communities and countries but not in others might be appropriate."[/FONT]
 

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