For long, the common perception held among everyone is that high salt concentrations may increase the risk of hypertension (high blood pressure). But now this has been challenged by a study conducted by the University of Leuven from Belgium. The study which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found no link between high salt intake and hypertension or any other related disease.
"Extrapolations from observational studies and short-term intervention trials suggest that population-wide moderation of salt intake might reduce cardiovascular events. The assumption that lower salt intake would in the long run lower blood pressure, to our knowledge, has not yet been confirmed in longitudinal population-based studies," said one of the researchers.
At the beginning, the research aimed at finding out whether the rates of deaths, hypertension and other conditions were due to high sodium levels in the urine. So a study was carried out in 3,681 participants who did not have any history of cardiovascular disease at the commencement of the study. Besides, nearly 2,096 of the participants had normal blood pressure. The participant's blood pressure and urinary sodium levels were regularly monitored throughout the 8 years duration of the study. During the study, 50 participants died and they were found to have low urinary sodium level. 24 participants with medium sodium levels and 10 participants with high sodium level also died. The researchers found that cardiovascular death risks were more prominent in individuals with low sodium levels in urine than the ones with high sodium levels. Besides, they also did not find any connection between high blood pressure and low sodium level.
The researchers said the associations between systolic pressure and sodium excretion does not improve the chances of survival. They declare that low sodium concentration increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases. They state that the study's findings go against the present practice of lowering intake of salt. However the study does not oppose the hypothesis that lowering salt intake would lower blood pressure levels. Also, the authors emphasized that the population sample was mainly Caucasian adults.
