For years after my father’s first bout with heart disease my mother kept the salt out of the kitchen. For a teenager that grew tired of boneless skinless chicken breasts and steamed spinach, sometimes my only refuge was the salt shaker. And luckily for me, my mother, a devout foodie and lover of all things tasty, eventually realized a saltless world wasn't reality and our family found a happy medium where all parties could find taste.
It turns out this may be a good thing. A large study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that too little sodium can have the opposite impact on cardiovascular health. The study followed an international group of 28,880 men and women over age 55 at high risk for heart disease for five years.
The New York Times reports:
The researchers found — unsurprisingly — that high sodium intake significantly increased the risk for heart problems.Researchers say that while high sodium diets are most certainly not good for heart health, low sodium diets, which nutritionists define as 1,500 milligrams per day, may not be necessary.But too little sodium was almost as bad as too much. Compared with those who excreted 4 to 6 grams of sodium daily, people who excreted 2 to 3 grams were at 19 percent greater risk for death from a cardiovascular event, and the less they consumed the greater their risk.
USDA Pushes Low Sodium Diet
Just last year Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack lowered the recommended daily serving of sodium for some groups. The guidelines are aimed at those who are 51 and older, all African-Americans and anyone suffering from hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease. These people specifically need to reduce daily sodium intake to little more than half a teaspoon, with the rest of the population at 1 teaspoon, or about 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day. This new research is at odds with Vilsack’s order.
It’s a seriously confusing message and it will be interesting to hear how the USDA responds. But for now, be moderate about your sodium intake and be especially aware of the high sodium content in processed foods. For many Americans it's these prepackaged foods that cause the most trouble.
