Sodium-not harmful?

Abstract

Background: The temporality between the mandated reduction of salt in processed food and the decrease of death from stroke and ischemic heart disease, the association of hypertension, and cardiovascular disease led many public health organizations to recommend reducing dietary sodium to a maximum of 2300 mg per day. It turns out that some nuances can be brought about to this universally shared belief.

Methods & results: Indeed, consideration of health outcomes instead of only blood pressure as a surrogate marker of cardiovascular disease and prognosis gave contradictory results whereas low sodium intake is associated to an excess of death and cardiovascular events.

Conclusions: Accordingly, sodium intake should be adapted to individual risk factors, and evidence is still clearly lacking to support indiscriminate recommendations in healthy people. By contrast, a restricted sodium diet is certainly useful in patients with chronic kidney disease exposed to salt retention, and by reciprocity, low sodium diet must be absolutely avoided in all patients presenting renal or extra renal sodium wasting where sodium depletion is a life-threatening condition.

Keywords: Blood pressure; Cardiovascular disease; Dietary; Heath outcomes; Table salt.