Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Nov 15:23:22.
doi: 10.1186/s40885-017-0079-8. eCollection 2017.

The salt-taste threshold in untreated hypertensive patients

Chang-Yeon Kim  1 , Mi-Kyung Ye  2 , Young Soo Lee  1
Affiliations

The salt-taste threshold in untreated hypertensive patients

Chang-Yeon Kim et al. Clin Hypertens. .

Abstract

Background: The salt-taste threshold can influence the salt appetite, and is thought to be another marker of sodium intake. Many studies have mentioned the relationship between the sodium intake and blood pressure (BP). The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the salt-taste threshold and urinary sodium excretion in normotensive and hypertensive groups.

Methods: We analyzed 199 patients (mean age 52 years, male 47.3%) who underwent 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM). Hypertension was diagnosed as an average daytime systolic BP of ≥135 mmHg or diastolic BP of ≥85 mmHg by the ABPM. We assessed the salt-taste threshold using graded saline solutions. The salt-taste threshold, 24-h urinary sodium and potassium excretion, and echocardiographic data were compared between the control and hypertensive groups.

Results: The detection and recognition threshold of the salt taste did not significantly differ between the control and hypertensive groups. The 24-h urinary sodium excretion of hypertensive patients was significantly higher than that of the control group (140.9 ± 59.8 vs. 117.9 ± 57.2 mEq/day, respectively, p = 0.011). Also, the urinary sodium-potassium ratio was significantly higher in the hypertensive patients. There was no correlation between the salt-taste threshold and 24-h urinary sodium excretion.

Conclusions: The salt-taste threshold might not be related to the BP status as well as the 24-h urinary sodium excretion.

Keywords: Hypertension; Sodium; Taste.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was approved by the institutional review board of Daegu Catholic Medical Center.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The relationship between the systolic blood pressure (BP) and 24-h urinary sodium excretion a and comparison by gender (b)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Histogram of the salt taste threshold
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The relationship between the detection (a) and recognition (b) threshold of salt and daytime systolic blood pressure (BP)
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
The relationship between the 24-h urinary sodium excretion (a) and 24-h urinary sodium/potassium ratio (b) and recognition threshold of salt
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Lawes CM, Vander Hoorn S, Rodgers A. Global burden of blood-pressure-related disease, 2001. Lancet (London, England). 2008;371(9623):1513–1518. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(08)60655-8. - DOI - PubMed
    1. MacMahon S, Peto R, Cutler J, Collins R, Sorlie P, Neaton J, et al. Blood pressure, stroke, and coronary heart disease. Part 1, prolonged differences in blood pressure: prospective observational studies corrected for the regression dilution bias. Lancet (London, England) 1990;335(8692):765–774. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(90)90878-9. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Tuomilehto J, Jousilahti P, Rastenyte D, Moltchanov V, Tanskanen A, Pietinen P, et al. Urinary sodium excretion and cardiovascular mortality in Finland: a prospective study. Lancet (London, England) 2001;357(9259):848–851. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(00)04199-4. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Intersalt: an international study of electrolyte excretion and blood pressure Results for 24 hour urinary sodium and potassium excretion. Intersalt cooperative research group. BMJ (Clinical research ed) 1988;297(6644):319–328. doi: 10.1136/bmj.297.6644.319. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Han W, Han X, Sun N, Chen Y, Jiang S, Li M. Relationships between urinary electrolytes excretion and central hemodynamics, and arterial stiffness in hypertensive patients. Hypertension research : official journal of the Japanese Society of Hypertension. 2017; - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources