Low Salt Heart Danger

It is dictum in the medical universe, that a low salt diet is a heart healthy way to eat. It’s common knowledge….like one plus one equals two. “The evidence is really not clear,” says Dr. Hillel Cohen, a public health expert at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Whoa! Wait a second! Not clear? Most will say it is!

Dr. Donald Smith, Director of Lipids and Metabolism at Mt. Sinai Medical Center, believes, “The thought of lowering sodium and salt in the diet was based on many studies that show if you do that, especially in people with hypertension, you lower their blood pressures, that should translate in lowering risk not only for strokes but also for heart disease and heart attacks.”

Not according to latest government study published in the American Journal of Medicine, led by Dr. Cohen. It suggests that low salt diets may, in some, actually increase one’s risk for a heart attack or stroke, not decrease it. And in no one--not any type of person--does it provide a benefit: protection against death due to these diseases.

Dr. Cohen says, “This is a study that raises the question and for us suggests that the more evidence is needed to confirm whether the recommendations are valid it raises a warning flag so to speak. It’s possible that even though the direct link of sodium with blood pressure that lower salt is better it may be also that lower salt diet has other things involved that we’re not measuring and looking for that might contribute to problems later on for some people.”

Many experts say there are lots of holes in the study. Dr. Cohen does say, emphatically, the research doesn’t mean go out and put salt on the food. “This is not a message for people to go out and change their behavior based on this one study. But rather think about it and talk about it with their health providers their doctors and see what’s right for them,” states Dr. Cohen.

“The simple message that low salt may increase one’s risk is not proven by this. Nor is it proven that taking low salt will not lower blood pressure, it will lower blood pressure, it’s very clear,” reports Dr. Smith. So clear, you shouldn’t be confused. For much of america, salt is not good--until proven, through reliable studies, otherwise.