Still Trying To Eat Less Salt? It May Be Time To Rethink That.

culled from:prevention.com

Is it finally time to bring our banished saltshakers back to the table? Maybe, says a new study in JAMA Internal Medicine, adding to a growing body of research that suggests scaling back on salt doesn't actually improve blood pressure or heart health.
In this study, researchers estimated the sodium intake of more than 2,600 healthy elderly Americans for 10 years using dietary surveys while tracking them for heart failure, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and death.
After adjusting the data for potential confounders like gender, BMI, race, and exercise habits, they found no significant association between sodium intake and risk for death, heart failure, or CVD. Plus, those who consumed less than 1,500 mg (just ¾ of a teaspoon) of sodium per day—the current American Heart Association recommendation—didn't have a significantly lower risk of health problems than people who consumed more moderate amounts, like 2,300 mg daily.
Researchers still caution against going sodium-crazy—this study and others don't show you can guzzle soy sauce or start salting your potato chips—but they say there's little point in going low sodium. "You see a small benefit as you go from very high sodium intake to slightly lower intake, but as you go lower and lower and lower, you don't see the benefit anymore," says Andreas Kalogeropoulos, MD, PhD, lead author and assistant professor at Emory University School of Medicine. "We found that there was a breaking point where lower sodium consumption was not associated with further benefits."
The takeaway: "When it comes to older adults, even the more lenient recommendation—the 2,300 mg limit proposed for the general population—is probably okay," Kalogeropoulos says. "I don't think they need to meet the more strict recommendation of 1,500 mg."