The Salt Breakthrough

How much salt is too much? And can too little raise your blood pressure?

- By Vera Tweed

Salt has a bad rap for raising blood pressure and risk for heart disease and stroke, but some studies have questioned the low-salt mantra. For example, the Framingham Offspring Study followed more than 2,600 men and women for 16 years and found that those who consumed less than 2,500 mg of sodium daily had higher blood pressure than those who consumed more.

This flies in the face of limits recommended by the American Heart Association of 2,300 mg of sodium daily, and ideally no more than 1,500 mg daily for most older people. It’s become a muddled issue.

Enter the Salt Sensitivity Study (saltstudy.com) at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. An NIH-funded research project that’s been going on for the past 10 years, it’s shedding some new light on the salt scene.