Watch your sodium intake!

daniellegwilliam

oh hat evil sodium!! My city just had a 10 day party, the stampeded. Basically a 10 day drinking and bad food binge fest.
After a coule days of drinking beer, vodka, things like burgers, seet potato fries, nachos, beef on a bun and pancake breakfasts, I weighed myself. I was up 6 POUNDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No way I ate and drank that much....it just shows that the bad food choices can affet you by bloating/watrer ertetntion etc...
after just 2 days back on track, those 6lbs were gone and an extra 1.5!!

just a reminder why I choose not to live a life of gluttony. talk about feeling like crap!

dltaylorii

How very civil

I'm trying not to let it become a habit.

Yeah... well, unnatural peanut butter is the devil!

And whats wrong with Peanut Butter *looks over top of glasses, arms folded* :noway:

Hahaha. I was just baiting Johnny... wait, that's not right!

ShinyFuture

Unless you have a medical condition that requires you to do so, limiting sodium intake is generally totally unnecessary. Additionally, limiting it too much (to, say, under 2000 mg) may have marked detrimental effects and/or increase your chances of death.

Okay, that's pretty a loaded statement. Any peer-reviewed science you can link to back that up?

I think under 2000 mg "may have marked detrimental effects and/or increase your chances of death" is a pretty broad interpretation of the study findings.

What the study actually says is lowering too much may increase the risk of adverse health effects for those with mid-to late- stage heart failure who are receiving aggressive treatment for their disease.

The study says their is insufficient data to conclude that less than 2300 mg increase or decreases the risk of heart disease, stroke, or all-cause mortality in the general US population; also that it does not support at or less than 1500 mg for those with diabetes, kidney disease, or heart disease.

The report specifically does not establish a "healthy" intake range for the general populace.

jsjp

bump

jonnythan

Unless you have a medical condition that requires you to do so, limiting sodium intake is generally totally unnecessary. Additionally, limiting it too much (to, say, under 2000 mg) may have marked detrimental effects and/or increase your chances of death.

Okay, that's pretty a loaded statement. Any peer-reviewed science you can link to back that up?

Yes, of course. Here's a quick overview:

http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/cdc-finds-no-benefit-in-reducing-salt-below-recommended-intake

In a nutshell, recent studies indicate that there's not much reason to limit your sodium intake unless you have ungodly amounts in your diet. Lowering below 2300 mg/day may in fact lead to significant risks.

The article does indeed confirm that there is no need to lower below 2300 mg/day. That is very helpful to know, and I genuinely appreciate the headsup.

However, the article further cites the CDC Institute of Medicine review of recent research, adding that they conclude, "these new studies support previous findings that reducing sodium from very high intake levels to moderate levels improves health."

I do not believe this supports your initial assertion that "limiting sodium intake is generally totally unnecessary."

The IOM report is not the only evidence. They didn't compare moderate intakes to high and very high intakes; they really only looked at very low, low, and other. Read this article:
http://www.psmag.com/health/stop-worrying-about-salt-reduction-58334/

If your intake is moderate, there seems to be little to no reason to change things.

sympha01

Unless you have a medical condition that requires you to do so, limiting sodium intake is generally totally unnecessary. Additionally, limiting it too much (to, say, under 2000 mg) may have marked detrimental effects and/or increase your chances of death.

Okay, that's pretty a loaded statement. Any peer-reviewed science you can link to back that up?

The poster who made that comment took it rather out of context, and it probably doesn't apply to the OP (the studies saying this specifically said the risk was for older people), but ...

here it is. http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=18311&page=106

If 169 pages is too much, same study, reported on by the NYT http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/health/panel-finds-no-benefit-in-sharply-restricting-sodium.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0

As expected, much of the press reported on this study a little too breathlessly since it fits in with the larger science journalistic fetish of "scientific studies on health are confusing and contradictory!" The actual study's conclusions are NOT that huge, and generally point more toward recommending more rigor on all sodium intake studies across the board, and a more holistic study of sodium's effect on body systems besides just blood pressure.

It is pretty near impossible for people living in industrialized nations to get "too little" sodium in our diets, and extremely difficult to reduce sodium to the levels that might increase these risks. I have a moderate blood pressure issue and watch my sodium intake, but even working crazy hard at it I've never gotten my sodium below 1600, and generally end up between 2000 and 2300 while really struggling to keep it from going higher than that.

All that being said, I think it's fair to say that the conventional advice and older research about keeping sodium levels down is based purely on blood pressure, nothing else. Healthy people in their 20s or younger who also don't have a blood pressure issue and aren't pregnant probably needn't worry about sodium too much in the short term, BUT a high-sodium diet when you're young just makes it harder to cut back on as you get older. It's poor long-term habit management, that's all.

willdob3

I don't eat many processed foods (where most people get too much sodium from) & find I really don't need to worry about getting too much sodium.

I've actually been more concerned about getting too little sodium as I noticed my levels were gradually dropping on lab tests. I make a point to use a few things like mustard, pickles and/or chicken broth/bouillon that will help me out a bit.