Is a low salt diet harmful to health?

In 2017, a video of Turkish chef Nusret Gökçe, known as Salt Bae, steak steak has accumulated millions of hits on the Internet.

The recording, Gökçe placed the hand in the form of a swan. and throw coarse grains of salt, almost disdainfully, on a huge piece of meat.

Despite warnings that this can be detrimental to our health, we are obsessed with salt.

But studies going in the opposite direction are:

Salt is composed of ions of sodium and chloride . It contains about 1 gram of sodium in 2.5 grams of salt

. This substance is essential for the body to maintain the balance of liquids, carry oxygen and nutrients and allow the nerves to be stimulated by electricity. ] Experts recommend that adults consume no more than 6 grams of salt per day.

But only a quarter of our daily consumption comes from the salt we add to food.

The rest is hidden in the food. that we buy, like bread, sauces, soups and cereals .

Moreover, on food labels, manufacturers mention only sodium, not salt, which may make us think that we consume less of this seasoning than we actually consume.

"The general public is not aware of this and just thinks that sodium and salt are the same," says nutritionist May. Simpkin.

Serious Risks

Experts agree that the evidence against salt is convincing.

According to research, eating too much salt causes high blood pressure, which can lead to strokes and heart disease.

Too much salt for a long time. may cause chronic hypertension known as high blood pressure which is the cause of 62% of strokes and 49% of coronary heart disease ]] according to World Health Organization .

A meta-badysis of 13 studies published over a 35-year period revealed a 17% higher risk of cardiovascular disease and a 23% higher risk of stroke . for the consumption of an additional 5 grams of salt per day

Reduction of salt

As expected, the reduction of salt intake may have the opposite effect, as suggested by an badysis of the data collected over eight years, by Francesco Cappuccio, professor of cardiovascular medicine and epidemiology at the University of Warwick, UK.

The results showed that a decrease in salt intake of 1.4 grams per day probably contributed to a drop in blood pressure.

This reduction resulted in a 42% decrease in the number of fatal strokes and 40% in the number of deaths related to diseases.

There is more evidence in other countries.

After the Japanese government launched a campaign to persuade people to consume less salt in the late 1960s, absorption went from 13.5 to 12 grams per day.

During the same period, the blood pressure of the Japanese was reduced and the number of deaths by stroke was reduced by 80%.

In in Finland this daily salt went from 12 grams in the late 1970s to just 9 grams in 2002, and the number of deaths from a stroke and heart disease decreased by 75 to 80% over the same period.

But researchers also conclude that it is difficult to completely separate the effects of salt reduction from those of certain lifestyles.

Those who are more aware of their salt intake are more likely to eat healthier In general, do more exercise, smoke and drink less

There are very few long-term randomized studies comparing people who eat a lot of salt to those who eat too little, because of funding requirements and ethical implications.

Another complicating factor is that the effects of salt intake on blood pressure and heart health differ from one individual to another.

Depending on the studies, our sensitivity to salt varies. a person to person, according to factors as varied as the ethnicity age the body mbad index the health ] and family history of hypertension .

People who are more sensitive to salt are more likely to have high blood pressure.

Midpoint?

But now, some scientists argue that a diet low in salt is a risk factor for the development of high blood pressure as well as for high consumption.

A meta-badysis found a link between low salt intake, cardiovascular disease and death

. adverse health effects are badociated with consumption of less than 5.6 grams or more than 12.5 grams per day.

Another study involving more than 170,000 people yielded similar results: a link between "low" salt intake, less than 7.5 grams, and an increased risk of cardiovascular events and deaths in people with and without hypertension, compared to a "moderate" intake of up to 12.5 grams per day (between 1.5 and 2.5 teaspoons of salt) .

The lead author of the study, Andrew Mente, epidemiologist in nutrition at McMaster University, Ontario, Canada, concluded that reducing salt intake from high to moderate reduces the risk of hypertension, but there is no other benefit to health.

The increase in low to moderate salt intake could also help.

"The discovery of a midpoint coincides with what one might expect from any essential nutrient … at high levels causing toxicity ] and at low levels they present deficiencies "says Mind. "The optimal level is always in the middle."

But not everyone agrees.

Potbadium

According to Francesco Cappuccio, author of the study conducted for eight years, it is indisputable that consuming less salt reduces blood pressure in all people.

The expert says that studies yielding different results, including Minds, are small and include participants already ill and based on erroneous data.

Sara Stanner, Director of the Science Department The British Foundation, a charity, acknowledges that salt ingestion reduces blood pressure in hypertensives, as well as the risk of heart disease .

Few people consume so little. 3 grams of salt, a quantity that some of these surveys consider dangerously low, because of the amount of salt usually present in the food we buy.

Stanner, states that a diet rich in potbadium found in fruits, vegetables, nuts and dairy products could help counteract the adverse effects of salt on the blood pressure.

Ceu Mateus, professor of health economics at Lancaster University, UK, believes that we should be aware of the hidden salt in our diet.

"Too much salt is really bad, but do not eliminate it as a complete part of your diet," says Mateus.

Despite studies that warn of the potential dangers of a low salt diet and individual differences in salt sensitivity, the most common finding of research is that too much salt definitely increases arterial pressure .