Salty Observations — Should the amount of sodium (salt) in food be restricted to prevent cardiovascular disease—or would a low-sodium diet actually aggravate health problems? To help answer that question, Drs. Michael Alderman, and Hillel W. Cohen, carried out a systematic review of nearly 30 observational studies and randomized clinical trials that have looked at dietary sodium’s association with health outcomes. They concluded that the data strongly suggest a “J-shaped” relation of dietary sodium intake to cardiovascular outcomes. This means that adverse outcomes are experienced at the extremes of sodium intake—by people ingesting very little sodium and by those ingesting a great deal of it. Their findings appear in the May 24, 2012 issue of the American Journal of Hypertension. Dr. Alderman is distinguished university professor emeritus of epidemiology & population health and of medicine; Dr. Cohen is professor of clinical epidemiology & population health.
Posted on: Tuesday, June 05, 2012