3 ms·

Salt is one of those weird things. The salt studies were years ago, mostly, and haven't fully been redone with modern standards. It isn't that they were fully

Salt is one of those weird things. The salt studies were years ago, mostly, and haven't fully been redone with modern standards. It isn't that they were fully wrong, but it doesn't always have the ills one is warned about and the amounts of "healthy" salt might vary. Some of those folks with high blood pressure will be helped by a lower salt diet: Some will not and I'm not sure if there are consistent links saying it causes high blood pressure in healthy folks with normal blood pressure. The rest of the folks with high blood pressure aren't always helped - probably because there is more than one path to high blood pressure. Genetics, medicines, smoking, diet, lack of exercise, weight, and so on. Even in this subset, these meats aren't universally bad. If your salted meat is a smallish portion of your diet and you use comparatively little salt in the rest of your food, you might be just fine. It isn't that one thing is salty, but that the overall diet isn't too high in salt.

sjwright 7y ago
And reducing salt has a devious unintended consequence: encouraging a diet higher in carbohydrates and fructose specifically—almost certainly worse than the salt for most people. Salt is one of the most effective ways to make healthy low carbohydrate foods (particularly fats and protein) palatable and compete with the sugar, corn and wheat that are so prevalent in unhealthy foods.
- trianglem 7y ago
  I find spicyness and sourness to be pretty good substitutes for salt and they make a lot of the blander (but healthy) vegetarian food taste fantastic.
YeGoblynQueenne 7y ago
>> Salt is one of those weird things. The salt studies were years ago, mostly, and haven't fully been redone with modern standards. That sounds very vague- what is "years ago" and what are "modern standards"? If "modern standards" are better for salt studies- are they also better for, e.g. drugs research, or physics or chemistry, etc? I think probably not. What I understand the big difference is between now and the past (let's say the 1950's), in terms of scientific standards has more to do with ethical requirements, rather than methodology. More modern studies are also more likely to use more recent statistical tools, or to rely more on automated tools and software packages, but that doesn't meant the newer studies are more accurate. I also don't know why you say that salt affects different people with high blood pressure differently. My understanding is that there is variability between _studies_, so some studies have found that hypertensives that reduce their salt intake see a reduction in their blood pressure, some have not, but that doesn't mean that hypertensives react to salt differently- it means that different studies had different results and that's all. And variability among studies' results is clearly expected, given the different methodologies etc. Generally, I'd say it's hasty to discard data and results collected over many years because some -but not most- modern studies have different results. In such cases the prudent thing is to wait and see before making up your mind. Currently, the bulk of the data supports the mainstream view that salt consumption over some amount is associated with raised blood pressure. The wise thing to do is to take that into account and manage your consumption accordingly. Another thing: how many people (say, under 30) know what their blood pressure is and how it's affected by salt? I know, because I have a relative with kidney disease and I often measure my blood pressure with them, and take notes. Most people though - they have no idea. So again- don't be hasty. It's difficult to know how salt consumption affects the general population, but if anyone wants to know how it affects them, personally, they don't need to rely on studies, new or old. All they have to do is use a blood pressure monitor once or twice a day for a few weeks. And I personally suggest everyone does, because what happened to my relative was downright scary. They had splitting headaches for a long time (years) and they only found out the reason when we visited a doctor for something unrelated. A nurse asked a question about general health and I replied that my relative has these splitting headaches (my relative would never bring up something so trivial themself!). It turned out those headaches were the result of 200/100 hypertensive episodes that were happening with regularity. Hypertension was likely either the root cause, or a contributing factor to the damage to my relative's kidneys (and also caused by that damage, in a real nasty feedback loop)- but we had no idea it was even there. And btw, my relative has definitely been able to control their blood pressure by cutting down drastically on their salt intake (they take drugs, of course, but salt still affects them very clearly). Blood pressure is such a basic vital sign that's so easy to measure. It's so easy to know, studies or no studies, how salt affects you. And yet, most people never measure it and instead we end up having these arguments on the internets about what this study or that study says about salt, in the general population, in the abstract. I don't quite get it.

sjwright 7y ago

And reducing salt has a devious unintended consequence: encouraging a diet higher in carbohydrates and fructose specifically—almost certainly worse than the salt for most people. Salt is one of the most effective ways to make healthy low carbohydrate foods (particularly fats and protein) palatable and compete with the sugar, corn and wheat that are so prevalent in unhealthy foods.

trianglem 7y ago
I find spicyness and sourness to be pretty good substitutes for salt and they make a lot of the blander (but healthy) vegetarian food taste fantastic.

YeGoblynQueenne 7y ago

>> Salt is one of those weird things. The salt studies were years ago, mostly, and haven't fully been redone with modern standards. That sounds very vague- what is "years ago" and what are "modern standards"? If "modern standards" are better for salt studies- are they also better for, e.g. drugs research, or physics or chemistry, etc? I think probably not. What I understand the big difference is between now and the past (let's say the 1950's), in terms of scientific standards has more to do with ethical requirements, rather than methodology. More modern studies are also more likely to use more recent statistical tools, or to rely more on automated tools and software packages, but that doesn't meant the newer studies are more accurate. I also don't know why you say that salt affects different people with high blood pressure differently. My understanding is that there is variability between _studies_, so some studies have found that hypertensives that reduce their salt intake see a reduction in their blood pressure, some have not, but that doesn't mean that hypertensives react to salt differently- it means that different studies had different results and that's all. And variability among studies' results is clearly expected, given the different methodologies etc. Generally, I'd say it's hasty to discard data and results collected over many years because some -but not most- modern studies have different results. In such cases the prudent thing is to wait and see before making up your mind. Currently, the bulk of the data supports the mainstream view that salt consumption over some amount is associated with raised blood pressure. The wise thing to do is to take that into account and manage your consumption accordingly. Another thing: how many people (say, under 30) know what their blood pressure is and how it's affected by salt? I know, because I have a relative with kidney disease and I often measure my blood pressure with them, and take notes. Most people though - they have no idea. So again- don't be hasty. It's difficult to know how salt consumption affects the general population, but if anyone wants to know how it affects them, personally, they don't need to rely on studies, new or old. All they have to do is use a blood pressure monitor once or twice a day for a few weeks. And I personally suggest everyone does, because what happened to my relative was downright scary. They had splitting headaches for a long time (years) and they only found out the reason when we visited a doctor for something unrelated. A nurse asked a question about general health and I replied that my relative has these splitting headaches (my relative would never bring up something so trivial themself!). It turned out those headaches were the result of 200/100 hypertensive episodes that were happening with regularity. Hypertension was likely either the root cause, or a contributing factor to the damage to my relative's kidneys (and also caused by that damage, in a real nasty feedback loop)- but we had no idea it was even there. And btw, my relative has definitely been able to control their blood pressure by cutting down drastically on their salt intake (they take drugs, of course, but salt still affects them very clearly). Blood pressure is such a basic vital sign that's so easy to measure. It's so easy to know, studies or no studies, how salt affects you. And yet, most people never measure it and instead we end up having these arguments on the internets about what this study or that study says about salt, in the general population, in the abstract. I don't quite get it.