Salt causes high blood pressure,’ ‘you put way too much salt on your food and that’s really bad for you,’ or ‘you really should cut down on your sodium intake!’
The above advice has been given to me since – well since forever!
I admit I like salt, I do tend to sprinkle it on sparingly at times, but, well food just tastes better with a bit of salt!
And now I actually don’t have to feel guilty about it!
Salt, it seems after all, may not be as damaging to our health as has been claimed all these years. At least according to a new study.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends cutting sodium intake to no more than 2gm a day, the equivalent of 5gm of salt, because of the link to increased blood pressure, which is in turn implicated in stroke.
But no country has ever managed to get population salt or sodium intake that low, says the study.
The researchers suggest campaigns to persuade people to cut down may only be worthwhile in countries with very high sodium consumption, such as China.
And that it may actually be pointless to try in countries like the UK and the US.
The study by Prof Andrew Mente from the Population Health Research Institute of Hamilton Health Sciences and McMaster University, involved more than 90,000 people in more than 300 communities in 18 countries.
But it immediately reignited a simmering row with other scientists who are on a crusade to reduce our salt consumption to near zero.
Prof Mente found that the harmful effects of sodium, raised blood pressure and stroke, only occurred in countries like China, where the liberal use of soy sauce leads to sodium levels over 5gm a day, the equivalent of 12gm of salt.
And they found that very low levels of salt actually led to more heart attacks and deaths, suggesting moderate salt intake may be protective.
“Our study adds to growing evidence to suggest that, at moderate intake, sodium may have a beneficial role in cardiovascular health, but a potentially more harmful role when intake is very high or very low. This is the relationship we would expect for any essential nutrient and health. Our bodies need essential nutrients like sodium, but the question is how much,” says Prof Mente.
Meanwhile, Tom Sanders, professor emeritus of nutrition and dietetics at King’s College London, says campaigns to lower salt intake have been beneficial in some countries.
“Intakes of salt in the UK have fallen over the past 30 years from over 12gm per day to 7 to 8gm per day, and this has been accompanied by a fall in average blood pressure of the population. Japan used to have a very high prevalence of high blood pressure and high rates of stroke and took action to cut salt intake in the 1970s and now has much lower rates,” he says.
So take from this what you like, but you know where I stand... now pass the salt!