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Cutting Out Even a Little Salt Can Have Big Health Benefits
Sometimes, seemingly small changes in a health measurement can make a very large difference to people’s well-being. Such is the case with the effect on blood pressure of the essential nutrient sodium, the problematic half of the popular flavoring agent sodium chloride, commonly known as salt.
The amount of salt that is safe for people to consume has been embroiled in controversy for a century. Scores of studies of varying quality linking sodium intake and health have swung the pendulum back and forth, stymieing regulations to limit sodium in most commercially prepared foods. Some people are especially sensitive to sodium’s ability to raise blood pressure, but given how common high blood pressure already is, and how difficult it is to avoid consuming too much salt, many experts maintain that the safest approach is an overall reduction in sodium levels in prepared and processed foods.
More than 100 million Americans have high blood pressure, a disorder that increases their risk of heart attacks and strokes, and which, for many people, is made worse by consuming too much sodium. Just a four-millimeter rise in blood pressure — say, from 130 to 134 millimeters of mercury — can jeopardize the health of some people, and the blood pressure of those who are especially salt-sensitive can rise by 10 or more millimeters of mercury on a typical high-salt diet. In 2010, a Stanford University team estimated that cutting about 350 milligrams of sodium a day (less than a sixth of a teaspoon) would lower systolic blood pressure by only 1.25 millimeters of mercury yet avert about a million strokes and heart attacks.
The human species evolved on a very low-sodium diet of 200 to 600 milligrams a day. In fact, our bodies are designed to conserve sodium and get rid of potassium, which explains why a high-sodium diet can be a problem.
Though doctors have long argued that Americans should consume less salt, the wheels of regulatory action turn at a glacial pace, and modifying people’s taste buds is equally challenging.
Adaptado de: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/11/well/eat/saltblood-pressure.html Acessado em 17 de outubro 2021.
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