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Salt intake may reduce heart disease
Baku, May 13 (AZERTAC). Avoiding salt in the diet may not help prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to a European study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Cardiologist Dr. Katarzyna Stolarz-Skrzypek from Jagiellonian University Medical College in Krakow, Poland and colleagues analyzed data from almost 4,000 people, initially without CVD, who took part in two different studies for an average of eight years between 1985 and 2004.
The team found that people with the lowest salt intake had a 4.1 percent chance of death from heart disease, while those with the highest intake had the lowest incidence of death at 0.8 percent.
“Our findings do not support the current recommendations of a generalized and indiscriminate reduction of salt intake at the population level,” Stolarz-Skrzypek said, according to HealthDay News.
“We believe that the consumers should be informed about risk related to low- or high-salt diet and be free to choose the consumed food. However, our findings do not negate the blood pressure-lowering effects of a dietary salt reduction in hypertensive patients.”
The researchers also concluded that blood pressure does not appear to be associated with salt intake.
Related ArticlesAllergic Asthma Cure Possible With New Molecular Breakthrough”It`s clear that one should be very careful in advocating generalized reduction in sodium intake in the population at large,” co-author Dr. Jan Staessen at the University of Leuven, Belgium told Reuters Health.
“There might be some benefits, but there might also be some adverse effects.”