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Is it possible that salt intake is just correlated to heart disease because the real foods causing heart disease (highly processed foods with refined vegetable

Is it possible that salt intake is just correlated to heart disease because the real foods causing heart disease (highly processed foods with refined vegetable oils, sugar, preservatives, etc.) are loaded with salt? Anecdotally, I put salt in everything I cook - sometimes to the point where others find it salty. My blood pressure has always been firmly in the healthy range (low 30s Male).

stephen_g 5y ago
As others have said, this study is comparing a very low salt diet to a recommended level of salt diet, and only in people who already have pre-existing cardiac issues. Apparently the average American has a diet that has 1.5 times the recommended level, so what this study is looking at isn’t anything like that, let alone an even higher-salt diet. So you can’t take the study as saying anything about preventing heart disease generally. The one conclusion you perhaps could extrapolate from it is to say that the recommended limit is probably pretty good since it doesn’t seem to help going lower.
- bluGill 5y ago
  Even then, the study would only detect large charges in effect, if someone claims the lower salt is 10% better the study wouldn't refute that.
snarf21 5y ago
Yes, it is like a co-morbidity. These are factors that amplify each other. Salt is likely fine if you don't have kidney or liver issues. However, heavy salt on top of trans fats and high sugar and .. and .. and .. is likely hard on our body.
chasebank 5y ago
You're probably right. I don't have a source but I vaguely remember reading about how salt is no different than fat or cholesterol in terms of how it correlates to your body. Fat does not make you fat. Cholesterol doesn't raise your cholesterol. Salt doesn't raise your sodium levels. Excess calorie consumption combined with lots of fat (high in calories), will indeed, make you fat. Excess calorie consumption combined with lots of cholesterol, will raise cholesterol levels. Salt is no different. This is an interesting read about salt from a 2011 article. "Intersalt, a large study published in 1988, compared sodium intake with blood pressure in subjects from 52 international research centers and found no relationship between sodium intake and the prevalence of hypertension. In fact, the population that ate the most salt, about 14 grams a day, had a lower median blood pressure than the population that ate the least, about 7.2 grams a day." [1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-the-war-on-salt/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-t... EDIT: The above referenced article has been discussed here on HN a few times over the years for anyone who wants to read previous comments. [2] https://hn.algolia.com/?q=end+war+on+salt https://hn.algolia.com/?q=end+war+on+salt

stephen_g 5y ago

As others have said, this study is comparing a very low salt diet to a recommended level of salt diet, and only in people who already have pre-existing cardiac issues. Apparently the average American has a diet that has 1.5 times the recommended level, so what this study is looking at isn’t anything like that, let alone an even higher-salt diet. So you can’t take the study as saying anything about preventing heart disease generally. The one conclusion you perhaps could extrapolate from it is to say that the recommended limit is probably pretty good since it doesn’t seem to help going lower.

bluGill 5y ago
Even then, the study would only detect large charges in effect, if someone claims the lower salt is 10% better the study wouldn't refute that.

snarf21 5y ago

Yes, it is like a co-morbidity. These are factors that amplify each other. Salt is likely fine if you don't have kidney or liver issues. However, heavy salt on top of trans fats and high sugar and .. and .. and .. is likely hard on our body.

chasebank 5y ago

You're probably right. I don't have a source but I vaguely remember reading about how salt is no different than fat or cholesterol in terms of how it correlates to your body. Fat does not make you fat. Cholesterol doesn't raise your cholesterol. Salt doesn't raise your sodium levels. Excess calorie consumption combined with lots of fat (high in calories), will indeed, make you fat. Excess calorie consumption combined with lots of cholesterol, will raise cholesterol levels. Salt is no different. This is an interesting read about salt from a 2011 article. "Intersalt, a large study published in 1988, compared sodium intake with blood pressure in subjects from 52 international research centers and found no relationship between sodium intake and the prevalence of hypertension. In fact, the population that ate the most salt, about 14 grams a day, had a lower median blood pressure than the population that ate the least, about 7.2 grams a day." [1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-the-war-on-salt/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-t... EDIT: The above referenced article has been discussed here on HN a few times over the years for anyone who wants to read previous comments. [2] https://hn.algolia.com/?q=end+war+on+salt https://hn.algolia.com/?q=end+war+on+salt