saltandfat’s reasoned respsonse. I recant my accusations of denialism. I blame the book I’m reading.
So, what do we see? Forty two years of studies involving hundreds of thousands of patients, all with long follow up times on intervention. And the longer the follow up time, the more pronounced the effect, indicating that continuing to eat more salt or eat less salt over longer periods of time had even more impact.
So, I don’t know where saltandfat gets their information on the lack of scientific links, but it seems to be bunk to me. Large studies written up in major medical journals disagree with him, leaving him appearing to be the salt version of climate change denialists.
I knew this link was going to get me in trouble, I never thought I’d have the pleasure of being equated with a climate change denier. And the blog’s only been up a day! Is climate change denial the new Godwin’s Law?
My overall point is that people generally think that salt causes hypertension, full stop, but the evidence doesn’t bear that out. From Harold McGee’s “On Food and Science” p. 642-643:
Medical scientists have long suspected that constant excessive salt intake results in an excessive volume of plasma being contained in our blood vessels, and therefore causes high blood pressure, which damages the blood vessels and increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. However, low-salt diets have been found to lower high blood pressure only modestly,and only in some people. And low-salt diets have surprising side effects of their own, including undesirable increases in blood cholesterol levels. At this time, it appears that most beneficial non-medical influences on blood pressure are general dietary balance — more vegetables, fruits, and seeds rich in potassium, calcium and other minerals — together with physical exercise that conditions the whole cardiovascular system.Gary Taubes has more on the political science of salt and the clash of public health and good science.
However, it would appear I was somewhat wrong, or at the very least poorly expressed my point. I do agree that we eat too much salt, thanks largely to processed food and that reducing that intake is a good thing. Cooking more is a great way to do that, but you shouldn’t fear the salt in your own kitchen. My big concern is a grand pronouncement that tells everyone to stop eating salt leading to vast misconceptions and bad science.
As far as I understand it, the science goes something like this: sodium is a necessary component of human health. Salt causes a temporary retention of water until it can be processed by the kidneys. People who already have hypertension or are at risk for strokes or other cardiovascular problems, due to a variety of lifestyle choices, should watch their salt intake. Modern, particularly western, diets have vastly more salt than the human body requires, largely thanks to processed foods, which also contain all kinds of other nasties, like refined carbohydrates and hydrogenated fats. Eat fewer processed foods, cook more, but don’t be afraid to use salt in the kitchen.
I have no desire to get into a fight over this and I’m certainly not going to back and forth reblog NO YOU’RE WRONG. I think that if more people ate more real food and less refined, prepackaged, high-sodium foods, we’d be better for it.
