Wow! New drug reduces deaths from heart disease 60%-80%

[MannyGoldstein]

Actually, it's not a new drug: it's plain old table salt. A new, big, long-term http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/03/us-eating-less-salt-doesnt-cut-heart-ris-idUSTRE7427AG20110503">study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that eating more salt actually resulted in a dramatic reduction in deaths, and had no real effect on blood pressure.

Deaths during the study, from the http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/current">JAMA abstract:

One-third of folks who ate the least salt: 4.1%
One-third of folks who ate the most salt: 0.8%
One-third of folks in the middle: 1.9%

That's pretty dramatic!

And it's in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), so it should be a solid study. Incidentally, the only other study that I saw like this, done many years ago in the UK, showed the same thing on death rates - I don't remember the blood pressure results from that study, if there were any.

If these were the results of a study on an expensive new prescription drug, it would be on the front page of the NY Times and doctors would be writing prescriptions like crazy, but it's only salt, so we'll probably not see much of a media blitz.

Warning though: if you have heart failure, kidney disease, or certain other diseases, salt is not a good idea; check with your doc if you're not sure.

(Actually, this story was posted earlier on LBN, but it wasn't getting much attention, so I thought I'd repost with a catchier title: sorry if it ticks anyone off.)

[kestrel91316]

1. ZOMG does this mean I can start back eating potato chips on a regular basis???

[MannyGoldstein]

2. Wouldn't recommend it - lots of calories

And a high glycemic load.

[kestrel91316]

11. I'm 5'4", 130 lb, and I walk 2.5+ miles a day. I want my freakin' potato chips.

[dkf]

3. I don't get what the basis was for some of this stuff.

I'm hearing coconut oil is really good for you too.

[MannyGoldstein]

4. I've heard that too, but I haven't seen any actual studies

I'll poke around.

[valerief]

8. Runs right through me. It's recommended for people who don't eat

lots of fruits and vegetables. It's too bad, too. I love the taste of coconut.

[TheOther95Percent]

5. I'm in the early stages of coronary artery disease...

and I've talked to three different specialists plus my regular doctors over the last six months. Every single one has asked me about my salt intake. I suspect that the small sample size contributed to the findings and this will get further research. If it's true, I will take my salt shaker out of the deep storage vault.

[MannyGoldstein]

6. Sample was 3,000

Pretty big for this kind of study.

[TheOther95Percent]

9. It is a big sample.

I heard it didn't have enough people on the north side of 40. I don't see a lot of folks under 40 sitting in the waiting room at the heart doctor's either. I'm in my early 50s and most of the other patients seem to be 65+. Ah, family history. I come from a long line of women with bad tickers.

[salvorhardin]

15. It was a decent sample size

The current recommendations to lower dietary sodium are all based on much, much smaller short-term studies.

However, as others have noted the participants in this study were on the youngish side and all European so maybe other populations are more sensitive to salt.

Another important criticism of this particular study is that it relied on only a single sodium excretion sample (blood and urine test). The participants were then followed for up to 8 years. Who knows how their salt intake may have changed over that time though? Maybe they tended to lower their salt intake since that has been the prevalent advice.

Yet this study does confirm what other studies have found.

What we're left with is an solid, intriguing piece of science, but hardly enough to change the consensus yet. Sure does suggest that scientists need to study the role of salt and heart disease more closely though.

[MannyGoldstein]

17. The results were *strongly* dose-dependent

That would tend to indicate that the folks continued to do something different throughout time, rather than regressing towards the mean or similar.

Asians seem to also not be salt-sensitive (or benefit from salt) - as pointed out in this thread, at least the Japanese they eat a lot of sodium but have very low mortality.

I'd always heard (from docs) that Africans are more likely to be salt sensitive, but I have no idea of whether that's based on good data.

[snappyturtle]

7. Glad you re-posted....many need to learn that esp. with LBN. IMHO nt

[ThatPoetGuy]

10. My theory:

life without salt is sad and empty. You eat your sushi without soy sauce, you tell the waiter no you don't want any fresh-grated parmesan, you order the bland chicken wrap, and you go around in a permanent funk because you can't ever look forward to your next meal.

Depression is bad for the heart.

[eridani]

12. For the salt sensitive minority, there is DEFINITELY an effect of salt on blood pressure

Luckily, most of us don't have to worry about that.

[provis99]

13. I'd like to see a followup study done on the Japanese.

The Japanese tend not to have heart attacks.They get tons of salt in their diet, particularly by way of soya sauce. Unfortunately, they also have a lot of hypertension, which physicians in the past have said was because of their salt intake.

[MannyGoldstein]

14. Japan has the highest life expectancy of any large country

They're doing something right!

[SheilaT]

16. I have been aware for at least thirty

years that salt is absolutely essential in our diet, it is just about impossible to overdose on salt since your body excretes any excess, and that it was rigid salt restrictions for pregnant women that caused a huge spike in pre-eclampsia and eclampsia in the 1950's and 1960's.

I don't read obscure medical journals, either. I've managed to learn all this just by reading books and magazines that are out there.

Salt to taste has always been a good idea.