Posted on 04/04/2022 1:34:41 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
For the past century people with weak hearts have been told to lower their salt intake, but until now there has been little scientific evidence behind the recommendation.
The largest randomized clinical trial to look at sodium reduction and heart failure reported results in The Lancet, and the findings were mixed.
Though reducing salt intake did not lead to fewer emergency visits, hospitalizations or deaths for patients with heart failure, the researchers did find an improvement in symptoms such as swelling, fatigue and coughing, as well as better overall quality of life.
"We can no longer put a blanket recommendation across all patients and say that limiting sodium intake is going to reduce your chances of either dying or being in hospital, but I can say comfortably that it could improve people's quality of life overall," said lead author Justin Ezekowitz.
The target sodium intake was 1,500 milligrams per day—or the equivalent of about two-thirds of a teaspoon of salt—which is the Health Canada recommended limit for most Canadians.
Before the study, patients consumed an average of 2,217 mg per day, or just under one teaspoon. After one year of study, the usual care group consumed an average of 2,072 mg of sodium daily, while those who received nutritional guidance consumed 1,658 mg per day, a reduction of a bit less than a quarter teaspoon equivalent.
They did find consistent improvements for the low-sodium group using three different quality of life assessment tools, as well as the New York Heart Association heart failure classification.
Ezekowitz said that he will continue to advise heart failure patients to cut back on salt, but now he will be clearer about the expected benefits. He urges clinicians to recognize that dietary changes can be a useful intervention for some of their patients.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
https://www.seriouseats.com/ask-the-food-lab-do-i-need-to-use-kosher-salt
Morton's Salt dissolves fine in all of my applications, and, apparently, those of others.
Too much evidence that low salt is bad for you in general, and for regulating your heart in particular.
Right.
I was just about to go on a rant about old wives tales and CDCs willful dissemination of mistruth when I ran across your post.
Its not likely that the uptake of salt is a problem. For most people the problem is low potassium.
If a person without kidney damage is still being treated by a physician promoting the high sodium myth its a good indicator that its time to find a competent physician that promotes potassium.
People in North America are in zero.danger of too low sodium levels it is in every processed food of every form. It also is in every baked product in large amounts as sodium bicarbonate or tricarbonate it’s what rises nearly every bread product even the one’s with yeast doughs. You can not eat a commercially prepared meal and any restaurant and not intake under 1000mg I’d take a $100 cash bet on that at any commercial restaurant in this country and won’t lose a single cent. Going on a under 1500 mg per day diet takes effort to count every mg take the time to look at the nutrition labels EVERYTHING has sodium in it. Forget about commercial food you won’t beable to make a sub 1500 day and finding a sub 1000 mg meal is a near impossibility unless you go to.The kitchen and cook it yourself with low sodium ingredients. Chicken broth and soups will blow your 1500 in a single serving. Soy sauce forget it. Miso is 3000+ for a 8 oz bowl. Just the bread in a subway 6” is 500 to 800 mg. Outback salt crusts their steaks it’s the first ingredient in their spice crust my X gf used to.work.for outback it’s 2500+ mg just for the steak a 8 oz fillet. Backer with cheese,sour cream, bacon and butter salted butter mind you is another 1500. The list goes on and one. PF Chang’s has at least 4 entries with 6000+ mg each. A single slice of dominoes pepperoni pizza is 1200 mg or more. American food is absolutely loaded with sodium,fats and sugars.
I put salt on ice cream, peanut butter sandwiches, grapefruit... I identify with your wife!!!
“I’ve always gone by....my body knows what it wants...”
I think mine was trying to kill me, then lol!
There is a small subset of patients with congestive heart failure who a couple of shakes of the salt shaker is enough to put them in acute heart failure. It’s not pretty. The answer is tasty food.
As someone who has recently been “forced” onto a low sodium diet, I started reading nutritional labels.
No matter what your opinion is regarding sodium intake, the American processed foods are insanely loaded with salt.
You speak the truth.
Sugar too.
Sugar and salt in a lot of things you wouldn’t expect.
Doctors Lie,
That’s what’s at the Heart
of This current state of
Affairs.
One obnoxious lying
Rodent Face Fauxi Destroys
The Finest Medical system
known to Man, and now,
I don’t Trust a Dentist.
.
Jesus,
How Long?
I don’t know much about basic substances in the way of benefits, etc. but I can say with certainty that you shouldn’t arbitrarily deprive yourself of any of the basic ones (sodium, potassium in particular) because it can end in very serious outcome.
I tried to lose weight 4 years ago and stupidly thought sodium (salt) was one so I pretty much cut it out altogether. I ended up in the ICU with delusions and would have died had they not pumped me full of IVs and supplements (I was at least 2-3 points below the recommended millequivalents).
Similarly, my next door neighbor lady had the same problem with potassium. Life threatened to the point of needing a life-flight helicopter....
My recommendation is that you should get a blood test at least 2 times a year, especially if you’re messing with your diet....
I’d be more worried about getting too little salt.
Speaking of dentists: I had a terrible dentist put in FOUR fillings in my brand new adult teeth that had NO SIGN OF ANY DECAY. It was just his opinion that those had deep spots in them that would make it hard for me to keep clean as I grew older. I heard him tell my mother these things, and even as a 13 year old, I couldn’t believe I was getting fillings for not having any teeth problems. Again, zero decay.
I have never had a filling for any other reason than for having perfectly healthy brushing habits and perfect teeth. This dentist wanted a bunch of money during a downturn in the economy and my dad had good insurance.
I still want to find that dentist and get my family’s money back, while drilling four of his teeth. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t live as many years with his teeth drilled out as I did.
Can you tell I’m mad, many decades later?
We have started getting extra blood tests from Direct Labs, in between physicals.
If high blood pressure is caused by calcification or buildup of cholesterol in the veins, then it is an issue. But if you have high blood pressure from caffeine intake or salt, just h ow is that a problem? Seems to me much of high blood pressure theory is stupid.
Please don’t eat sodium.
Sodium chloride, on the other hand, is fine. In fact, you’ll die without it.
I’ve seen people screwed up in numerous ways because they went light on salt. But screw the salt Nazis. For my own part if I don’t get enough salt in my regular diet I wake up at the stroke of midnight with a Charley Horse. And nothing helps but a lick of salt. I keep a shaker next to the bed for the times it happens. The fascinating thing is it takes less than a minute after the first lick for the Horse to fade. guaranteed, so I know what the problem is/was.
More aerobic exercise would have been helpful, but, Mom had very severe arthritis. At least she was good about staying well hydrated and even earlier on, eating for good nutrition (her blood tests including Potassium levels were always v. good.)
That had changed when Mom went into Independent Living -- the food was hideously salty and Mom's problems went through the roof, eventually knocking her out of Independent Living, at which point we began caring for her at home with assistance from sitters also. That got back to a healthier diet, and she did pretty well until a few years later developing a hiatal hernia and then an ulcer and complications... (She died at just under 91 - a pretty good run, all in all.)
Anyway, agreed 100% about the salt in food. We worked hard on it, but letting Mom have a few things she begged for now and then, and I'd say we probably kept her somewhere between 2300 and 2500 mg per day, on average. That seemed to work well for her even the last ~3 years when she was in a wheelchair and slept a lot.
Less processed food is of course good in general, but, it is time consuming. (I prefer not to add the tips of my fingers to my salads and such. :-) )
How on Earth did you get down to 350 mg per day? Graze in the yard?
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