health

Less salty diets would save millions of lives: study

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Nonsense. The salt intake/heart disease link has been debunked in study after study, yet this kind of garbage is perpetuated.

Which country has the highest median life expectancy? Japan. Which country has the highest salt intake? Japan.

The silliest thing is that studies continue to show that low salt diets increase the risks of heart disease, not lower it.

The study which first linked salt to heart disease looked at salt intake and cases of heart disease. The highest levels of heart disease were mainly in developed countries. The lowest levels of heart disease were in central Africa where salt intake is very low. What the study failed to mention is that the life expectancy in central Africa is so low (34 years at the time pf the study) that the lack of heart disease had nothing at all to do with salt intake, but the simple fact that most people didn't live long enough to develop heart disease.

The salt intake vs heart disease theory is yet another case of science using trickery to obtain state funding to solve a problem which does not exist.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I love salt.

Blood pressure always perfect.

From what I understand, which may not be correct, salt exacerbates blood pressure issues, rather than directly causing them. If you are healthy and not overweight, then I think salt intake isn't really an issue.

I admit I'm not very knowledgeable on the subject though, and may be entirely incorrect.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I love salt.

Blood pressure always perfect. I wonder what the fluttering heart is about though.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

While on the subject, generally, of prolonging lives, I remember an article from decades ago which tracked the incidence of various types of cancer, by nation. Japan was one of two countries with the highest rates of stomach cancer, along with Norway. Seems to me that the people of those two countries eat a lot of fish, but much of that fish may be salted or pickled. The article did not try to analyze why the various cancer rates were what they were, it only reported the statistics. I would also note that while stomach cancer rates in the two countries were higher than normal, lifespans for the general population in those countries are higher than normal, compared to other nations.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I recommend people try cutting their salt intakes and see if it lowers their blood pressure and has other positive health benefits. I did this years ago and my doctor says I am in good health at age 70. I have also greatly reduced my sugar intake, drink green tea instead of coffee, snack on dry roasted unseasoned nuts, and eat a banana a day for a proper balance between potassium and sodium salt to keep my heartbeat regular. I exercise every few days doing physical work. All this without taking the statin and aspirin and heart pills prescribed for me by doctors. We are each responsible for doing what we find best for us to achieve and maintain our own good health!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I always find the "save lots of lives" wording of this type of article weird. It is surely "prolong" lots of lives as we all die someday.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The long-standing belief that salt causes high blood pressure and heart attacks is based on bogus studies (e.g. feeding rats over 200 times the regular dose) and baseless conjecture from scientists who cherry picked data to support the theory they had already decided on. Apart from a small minority of people who's sensitivity to salt causes their blood pressure to rise, most people really don't need to worry that much about limiting their salt intake.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-the-war-on-salt/

http://joshmitteldorf.scienceblog.com/2013/06/17/dietary-salt-medical-science-corrects-a-long-standing-error/

"The Federal Center for Disease Control (CDC) commissioned a review of the health benefits of reducing salt intake, and a draft of the final report is available on line. The take-home message is that salt, in the quantities consumed by most Americans, is no longer considered a substantial health hazzard. The average American eats about 1½ tsp. per day. What the CDC study reported explicitly is that there is no benefit, and may be a danger, from reducing our salt intake below 1 tsp per day But even above 1 tsp, the evidence is tenuous and inconsistent. It may be that we’re better off with more salt than less, up to 2 or even 3 tsp per day."

1 ( +3 / -2 )

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