Whether salt is harmful is determined not only by its excessive consumption. It is more detrimental to health when high salt intake is combined with a low dietary potassium content, suggests a study published by the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Table salt contains almost exclusively sodium chloride, which is suspected of the fact that consumed in excess may cause arterial hypertension, which in turn contributes to ischemic heart disease and strokes.
– Potassium can, however, neutralize the harmful effects of sodium. Only when there is too little of it, salt shows a harmful effect – explains one of the authors of the study, Dr. Elena Kuklina from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The scientist cites CDC research, which was carried out on 12 thousand. volunteers over 20 years of age. They show that people who consume a lot of salt and low potassium are twice as likely to die from a heart attack compared to people who eat both high sodium and potassium diets. It was also found that the potassium content is too low by 50 percent. increases the risk of death from other causes.
The observations lasted 15 years, during which 2 people died. Heart disease was the cause of death in 270 people, and 825 people died of congestion and strokes.
However, it is not known how potassium neutralizes the harmful effects of table salt. And it is not enough to take it in tablets to increase its content in the body. First of all, you need to enrich your daily menu with vegetables and fruits abundant in this element. These are mainly legumes, citrus fruits, bananas, cantaloupe melon, sunflower seeds, mint leaves, green vegetables, tomatoes, potatoes and nuts.
Also read: What does the heart suffer from?
For example, 100 g of dried apricots contain 1666 mg of potassium, dried figs – 938 mg, avocados – 600 mg, bananas – 395 mg, potatoes – 357 mg, celery – 320 mg, kiwi – 290 mg, tomatoes – 282 mg and grapefruits – 277 mg.
The daily potassium intake should be 4,7 g, but this standard is rarely met. When there is too little of it, there is a loss of appetite and body weakness, cardiac arrhythmias, headaches, as well as concentration disorders, nervousness and sleep disturbances.
The AP reports that the average American consumes only half of the recommended potassium intake. At the same time, as much as 90 percent. people eat too much salt. Three-quarters of it comes from processed foods.
The same CDC research shows that salt intake is harmful to the recommended dose, regardless of the level of potassium in the body. People who consumed 5 g of sodium chloride daily died of heart disease almost twice as often as those whose diets were only 2 g of salt.
This part of the research causes the most discussion. Dr Robert Briss, dir. The CDC said in a statement to Reuters that it confirms government experts’ demand to strive to limit salt consumption. In the USA, it is recommended that it should not exceed 2,3 g (World Health Organization suggests 5 g – PAP). This is contradicted by a meta-analysis of seven studies recently published by the Cochrane Library. According to her, there is no evidence that restricting salt intake reduces both the risk of coronary heart disease and premature death.
Dr. Elena Kuklina from the CDC believes that in a dispute on this topic, it would be better to focus on the interrelationship between sodium and potassium than just on whether excess salt is harmful. (PAP)
Also read: What does the heart suffer from?