Salt Kills

monty619

LOL overconsumption of salt is the last thing you should worry about.. just consume consistant amounts, or balance it out with consuming more potassium and u wont have problems.. anyone who exercises regularly and is healthy outside of having high blood pressure can eat as much as they want.

kelsully

Shame on ABC, NBC, CBS, and the rest of those who resort to sensationalism. "A team of Harvard researchers" is not a signifier of authority here. As the article linked to in the OP points outs--somewhere at the bottom, this review of other studies has yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal. While being published doesn't make something true, it's reasonable to demand that findings this contrary to recent thought be scrutinized. To not do so is a red flag.

The article, obviously not written by someone with scientific training, seems to report preliminary findings as fact. I believe that the researcher believes his findings to be true but how can readers be served by reporting on the confidence level of an academic who somehow was able to convince every major news organization--it seems--to have this story ready on the day of presentation?

In other words, this story is anecdotal. People have a hard enough time wading through real findings of fact. Introducing BS can't help.

I admit I did not read the article but I do have to say that people also do not know how to read and examine research for confounding variables. There was a study done once concerning sugar and hyperactivity. The first studies showed an increase in hyperactivity in children that consumed a certain amount of sugar. Further studies were done that isolated the source of sugars...some children were given no sugars...some were given home baked goods with the same quantities of sugar as the third group that got processed sugars loaded with food dyes. It was only the third group that showed hyperactivity.

The point is...salt might be bad in excess, but the source of the salt might be more important than the amount, the amount of hydration along with the salt intake might be more important than the amount of salt consumed. People need to read critically to all the variables...and consider the confounding variables as well ( the variables that were not at first considered)

FredDoyle

Ya, I'm not talking about the panic headline in the OP. Just that respectable medical agencies say that it should be restricted to 1500 mg /day. This is the European standard BTW. I like to eat more than that.
Some agencies concerned with BP are indeed thinking that a K to Na ratio of ~2:1 is more important than the total amount of Na.
I'd like to see some confirming studies.

CoachReddy

LOL overconsumption of salt is the last thing you should worry about.. just consume consistant amounts, or balance it out with consuming more potassium and u wont have problems.. anyone who exercises regularly and is healthy outside of having high blood pressure can eat as much as they want.

i dunno... i'd say getting mauled by an army of stuffed animal unicorns is probably the LAST thing you should worry about...

keeping an eye on sodium levels isn't a bad thing, but not worth freaking out over unless your diet consists of mostly processed foods and you don't exercise much.

Lyadeia

LOL overconsumption of salt is the last thing you should worry about.. just consume consistant amounts, or balance it out with consuming more potassium and u wont have problems.. anyone who exercises regularly and is healthy outside of having high blood pressure can eat as much as they want.

i dunno... i'd say getting mauled by an army of stuffed animal unicorns is probably the LAST thing you should worry about...

keeping an eye on sodium levels isn't a bad thing, but not worth freaking out over unless your diet consists of mostly processed foods and you don't exercise much.

And if that's the case, then worrying about salt is worrying about minutia when all things about your health are being considered.

But, still, watch out for the rampaging unicorn stampede.