No Relationship Between Dietary Salt Intake And Negative Health Outcomes: CDC

Posted by Milton Recht:

From Just another Science Blog Sites site, "Dietary Salt: Medical Science Corrects a Long-Standing Error" by Josh Mitteldorf:

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. How did it happen that such standard medical advice drifted astray, then went un-corrected for so long?

This review by the National Academies Institute of Medicine (IOM), commissioned by CDC, considered dozens of studies, from cross-cultural (less reliable) to prospective, randomized with control (most reliable). Most studies showed no relationship between salt intake and any health outcome. Some seemed to indicate that more salt had a beneficial effect.