Low-sodium diet might not lower blood pressure
New research presented at the Experimental Biology 2017 meeting on April 25 suggests that consuming less sodium may not lower blood pressure.
New research presented at the Experimental Biology 2017 meeting on April 25 suggests that consuming less sodium may not lower blood pressure. For the study, the researchers followed 2,632 men and women aged 30–64 who were part of the Framingham Offspring Study. The participants had normal blood pressure at the study’s start. However, over the next 16 years, the researchers found that the study participants who consumed less than 2,500 mg of sodium a day had higher blood pressure than participants who consumed higher amounts of sodium.
As lead researcher Lynn L. Moore, associate professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, explained, other large studies published in the past few years have found what researchers call a J-shaped relationship between sodium and cardiovascular risk—that means people with low-sodium diets (as recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans) and people with a very high sodium intake (above the usual intake of the average American) had higher risks of heart disease. Those with the lowest risk had sodium intakes in the middle, which is the range consumed by most Americans. The 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends limiting sodium intake to 2,300 mg a day for healthy people.
The researchers also found that people in the study who had higher intakes of potassium, calcium, and magnesium exhibited lower blood pressure over the long term. In fact, study participants with higher combined intakes of sodium (3,717 mg per day on average) and potassium (3,211 mg per day on average) had the lowest blood pressure.
“This study and others point to the importance of higher potassium intakes, in particular, on blood pressure and probably cardiovascular outcomes as well,” said Moore. “I hope that this research will help refocus the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans on the importance of increasing intakes of foods rich in potassium, calcium, and magnesium for the purpose of maintaining a healthy blood pressure.”