****from kaufmnsl@sprynet.com***
Okay, here's a fly in the low-salt ointment.... (Do visit their web site,
this is publicity, not a copyright violation.)
Richard Kaufman
Subject: CNN - Study finds low salt diets unhealthy - March 13, 1998
http://cnn.com/HEALTH/9803/13/salt.reut/index.html
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> Boards Study finds low salt diets unhealthy
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> Feedback March 13, 1998 [salt shaker]
> Web posted at: 3:58 a.m. EST (0858
> SITE GMT)
> SOURCES
> Contents LONDON (Reuters) -- Low salt diets could be
> Help! hazardous to your health, U.S. doctors warned on
> Search
> Friday.
> CNN
> Networks Contrary to the common belief that eating too much
> salt can lead to heart attacks and strokes,
> SPECIALS lowering your sodium intake may actually be
> Quick harmful, doctors at the Albert Einstein College of
> News Medicine in New York said.
> Almanac
> Video "Cancel current recommendations to reduce salt
> Vault intake, and wait for more data," epidemiology and
> News Quiz social medicine professor Michael Alderman said in
> a statement.
>
> [Infoseek/Big YelloStudy finds mortality inversely related to salt
> intake
>
> [Pathfinder/Warner In a study published in the Lancet medical
> journal, Alderman and his team analysed the diets
> of 11,000 people who took part in the first
> [Barnes and Noble] National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
> that started in 1971 in the United States.
>
> "Our survey provides no support for
> [Parent Time link] recommendations to lower sodium as a goal of
> dietary policy," Alderman said.
>
> [BHN logo] "Those recommendations are based on data
> indicating that less salt means lower blood
> pressure, which is true for some but not all
> people. Moreover, there are lots of ways to lower
> blood pressure, and not all are good for you;
> indeed, our study suggests that lowering sodium
> may actually be harmful."
>
> Ironically, Alderman and his team found that
> mortality was inversely related to salt intake.
> The more salt people reported eating, the less
> likely they were to die from cardiovascular or
> other diseases.
>
> Study casts doubts on earlier studies
>
> When the team looked at salt intake in relation to
> total calories the results were even more
> interesting. At each level of salt intake people
> who consumed fewer calories were more likely to
> die than those who consumed more calories.
>
> Heart disease is the leading cause of death in
> most developed countries and high blood pressure
> is a major risk factor. Specialists, convinced
> that high salt intake increased blood pressure,
> had advised people to cut down on it.
>
> An earlier study, also published in the Lancet,
> linked a high salt diet to osteoporosis, stomach
> cancer, asthma and fluid retention.
>
> But Alderman is not alone in his beliefs.
>
> Canadian hypertension expert Alexander Logan
> reached similar conclusions in research published
> in The Journal of the American Medical Association
> nearly two years ago. He concluded that the
> harmful effects of restricting salt intake were
> not fully appreciated, and doctors should not
> assume a low-salt diet was harmless.
>
> Alderman said the relationship between salt intake
> and other dietary components may be so complex
> that across-the-board guidelines may never be
> possible.
>
> Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights
> reserved.
-Richard Kaufmans
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End of LONGEVITY-DIGEST Digest - 22 Apr 1998 to 23 Apr 1998
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