You've always been told that high salt diet is one of the biggest environmental factors that raise blood pressure and cause hypertension. And then you read an article that has an attractive title on a well-known news site that tells you hey, maybe salt isn't all that bad, maybe low salt diet can even cause harm!. So after 10 minutes of poring over the article, you're left in a befuddled state of mind, not knowing what to believe. I don't blame you.
The author of the article started off by claiming that the reason we were told salt is so deadly is because of it "biological plausibility" - eat more salt and your body will retain more water to maintain a stable concentration of sodium in your blood; this increase in fluid retention in the body will increase your blood pressure, and in time, if this become a chronic situation and your kidneys don't function as well to eliminate sodium and water, it'll cause hypertension, then stroke, and then it'll kill you prematurely (I'm merely paraphrasing what the author wrote).
He went on to say how there hasn't been any meaningful experiments to show that, by citing a couple of examples (you can read the article to get the full story). According to the article, although researchers acknowledged that the data supporting the now-widely-common belief of "eating less salt will reduce hypertension" is "inconclusive and contradictory", this link between salt and BP has nevertheless been upgraded from hypothesis to fact by some cardiologist. Okay, I'm still following. Assuming he did his fact-check and they're all accurate, I get what he's trying to say. It wasn't until the following sentence that I start to doubt his credibility: he made a comment on the DASH-sodium study, saying that while "it suggested that eating significantly less salt would modestly lower blood pressure, it said nothing about whether this would reduce hypertension, prevent heart disease or lengthen life". Uhh… did I just read this??? Though his sentence might sound intellectual and profound, it is anything but. If lowering BP does not mean reducing hypertension, then I don't know what definition of 'hypertension' he's using. Seriously. Can you blame me for not taking his article seriously?
I have no interest in what he has to say anymore after that point, but read on anyway. He basically wrote that there were actually studies done that showed people who ate less salt were more likely to have heart disease than those eating normal amount of salt. Don't know how true his facts were, but I can't help but roll my eyes. So at the end of the day, his whole article is moot. His what-seemed-like-a-controversial piece is just trying to tell us what we should've known all along - to eat in moderation. Who doesn't know that?! -__- Sigh. What a waste of my time!!
4 comments:
ugg., you pull me out to respond. The fact is no matter how much or little salt you consume, at the end, our life expectancy will not be increased much beyong 100 or much less than that. It is a moot point, nothing really matters is my latest
fugupuff!!! hello long time no hear from you! yes it is quite a moot point. but some things do matter, albeit for a limited period of time. nothing is forever though-
But how are you!!!
ahaha....!!!! Yi Zen, I miss hanging out with you! You should hear what I have to say now! Are you ever coming back? I'll have to come visit you in Malaysia if not!
haha you remembered my name! (well almost.. you missed a 'h' in 'zhen' :P) yeah likewise, miss hanging out with you too! i think there's a chance i'll be back there… just don't know when yet. :) but yes you should totally come visit me!! it's durian season now btw! :D
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