Too little salt is also unhealthy, researchers warn

Both too little and too much salt consumption is harmful to one's health, a new study finds.

Both too little and too much salt consumption is harmful to one’s health, a new study finds. The study, involving two reports from a worldwide collaborative study with investigators from 18 countries, was published in today’s issue of New England Journal of Medicine.

This new study undermines previous beliefs and conventional wisdom regarding salt consumption.

The study, called the Prospective Urban & Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study, followed over 100,000 people for almost four years. The study, led by investigators from the Population Health Research Institute, McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences, looked at sodium and potassium intake and how they related to blood pressure, deaths, heart disease and strokes.

In Canada, the current general sodium intake level falls between 3.5 and 4 grams each day, while some guidelines suggest lowering the intake to 2.3 grams per day, an amount that less than five percent of Canadians currently consume.

Researchers have indicated that there are adverse health effects when sodium intake is increased, including elevated blood pressure, which is a risk factor for heart attacks, heart failure, strokes, and other problems, become much worse when intake spikes to over five grams per day. This is particularly true for individuals with high blood pressure, are over the age of 55, or both.

Martin O’Donnell, an associate clinical professor at McMaster University and National University of Ireland Galway, said in a statement, “Low sodium intake does reduce blood pressure modestly, compared to moderate (or average) intake, but low sodium intake also has other effects, including adverse elevations of certain hormones that are associated with an increase in risk of death and cardiovascular diseases.” He continued, “The key question is whether these competing physiologic effects result in net clinical benefit or not.”

According to the American Heart Association, most people consume around 3,400 milligrams of sodium per day, which is over twice its recommended amount of 1,500 milligrams.