Monday, June 9, 2008

Low salt diet may not be good for your heart

Another example of expert advice becoming dubious...

WEDNESDAY, June 4 (HealthDay News) — Surprising new research suggests that a diet low in salt may be worse for your heart than eating lots of salt, but don't start eating potato chips just yet.

"No one should run out and buy a salt shaker to try to improve their cardiovascular health. But we think it's reasonable to say that different people have different needs," said study author Dr. Hillel W. Cohen, an associate professor of epidemiology and population health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.
The study, published online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, doesn't confirm that a low-salt diet itself is bad for the heart. But it does say that people who eat the least salt suffer from the highest rates of death from cardiac disease.
"Our findings suggest that one cannot simply assume, without evidence, that lower salt diets 'can't hurt,' " Cohen said.

For the rest, see www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=90010

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have actually heard that eating sodium-rich foods can be balanced by eating potassium-rich foods, like bananas. But generally, I think most people would probably agree to limit, not entirely cut out, but to limit salt intake. Thanks for this important post.