People with normal blood pressure are not safe from strokes and heart attacks when they eat too much salt.
A new study from Sweden underscored the importance of salt regulation in the diet after scientists learned that too much salt could increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes even when people appear healthy and have normal blood pressure.
High blood pressure is a well-known risk factor for stroke and heart attack. However, some people with clogged arteries in the neck and heart may not show symptoms and even record normal blood pressure during a routine checkup.
Salt has long been deemed unhealthy because of its ability to increase blood pressure. However, little is known about its role in the buildup of plaques in the arteries. The research team wanted to change that in their study, which was recently published in European Heart Journal Open.
The team collected data from 10,778 adults aged 50 to 64. They measured the salt found in the urine samples of the participants to get an idea of the amount of salt they consumed from their diet.
The researchers also gathered clinical data by capturing images of the arteries of the heart and checking for calcium and blockages. They also used ultrasound to check for blockages in the carotid arteries in the neck.
After analyzing the data, they found that the salt intake of the participants mirrored their risk for calcifications in the neck and heart arteries. Those who had a high-salt diet had a bigger risk.
Study author Jonas Wuopio, M.D., of the Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge and the Clinical Research Center At Uppsala University, said their findings suggest the possibility of salt causing damage to the vascular system even before the blood pressure is affected.
“Ours is the first study to examine the association between a high salt intake and hardening of the arteries in both the head and neck. The association was linear, meaning that each rise in salt intake was linked with more atherosclerosis,” Wuopio said.
Even when they excluded the participants with high blood pressure, the team still noticed a higher risk of stroke and heart attack among the people who consumed too much salt.
“This means that it’s not just patients with high blood pressure or heart disease who need to watch their salt intake. It can be hard to estimate how much salt we eat, so I advise patients to limit the use of table salt, or to replace salt with a salt substitute,” Wuopio was quoted as saying by WebMD.
Based on the latest data available to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 750,000 people have a stroke each year in the U.S. Meanwhile, about 805,000 people have a heart attack in the U.S. yearly. This means someone in the country has a heart attack every 40 seconds.
Research suggests health disparities among young women and men who have suffered from a heart attack are partly because of gender differences in risk factors. Pixabay