Low-Salt Diet May Increase the Risk of Heart Attack and Early Deaths

A recently published worldwide study reveals that low-salt diet may increase the risk of heart attack, early deaths, and other cardiovascular diseases compared to those whose with average salt consumption in their diets.

Contrary to popular thought, the study only recommends low-salt diet only to people with high blood pressure or hypertension whose salt consumption is high. An estimated 80 million adults are reportedly at high risk of getting heart disease and stroke across as a result of hypertension in the United States. However, not everyone is advised to make a swift switch to low-salt diet.

"These are extremely important findings for those who are suffering from hypertension pressure who also consume high sodium diets. While our data highlights the importance of reducing high salt intake in people with hypertension, it does not support reducing salt intake to low levels," said the study's lead author Andrew Mente of McMaster's School of Medicine as quoted by Medical Daily in a statement.

The research, published in the journal The Lancet, involved more than 130,000 participants from 49 countries around the worldwide, was overseen by scientists from the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) of McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences.

The researchers' chief aim is to determine whether a significant difference exists between salt intake and cardiovascular diseases and early death among people with hypertension compared to people with normal blood pressure.

The results surprisingly showed that whether people have hypertension or not, low-salt diet is seemingly correlated with increased risk of heart attacks, early deaths, and a number of cardiovascular diseases compared to average salt consumption.

"While our data highlights the importance of reducing high salt intake in people with hypertension, it does not support reducing salt intake to low levels. Our findings are important because they show that lowering sodium is best targeted at those with hypertension who also consume high sodium diets," remarked Mente as quoted in a report by the Science Daily.

The study indicates that salt intake below 3,000 milligrams a day similary raises the risk for cardiovascular diseases as that of hypertension patients who consume too much salt in their diets.

The results showed that low-salt intake raises the risk of heart-related diseases by 26% for people without hypertension and 34% for patients with high blood pressure. For people with hypertension, on the other hand, excess salt in diets increased the risk by 23%. The risk appears to be non-threatening for people with normal blood pressure who consume extra salt in their meals.

However, not everyone agrees with the study. The American Heart Association (AHA) remains quite critical of the Mente's findings accusing the study of relying on flawed analysis based on inaccurate estimates of salt intake. The research should not immediately used as an excuse to be complacent over high-salt diet concerns.

"This is an extremely flawed analysis that doesn't provide new information, and it should not be used to guide public policy. The American Heart Association continues to recommend less than 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day from all sources," said Dr. Elliott Antman of AHA, mentioned WebMD in a report.

The organization maintained that most Americans have high-salt diets laden with about 3,400 milligrams of sodium a day, twice the amount recommended by AHA.