|
 “Despite knowledge that a high salt diet is related to high blood
pressure it was not a high level of concern for this population
group,” Kristy Gray, a researcher with the University of South
Australia School of Pharmacy and Medical Science in Adelaide, and
her coauthors wrote in the journal Appetite.
Although there is some controversy about optimum sodium intake, the
authors say there is also good evidence showing a reduction in salt
intake may help prevent strokes, heart attacks and other
cardiovascular events.
Moreover, people with diabetes are already at higher risk of
cardiovascular disease, so they need to be extra careful, the
authors point out.
Gray and her colleagues reviewed questionnaires answered by
Australian adults with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. They also measured
participants’ blood sugar, blood pressure, and the amount of sodium
in their urine.
Of the 143 people who participated in the study, only about a third
knew that salt contains sodium. Only 6 percent knew that the
recommended upper limit for salt intake for Australians is 6 grams
per day.
More than 80 percent knew that processed foods such as bacon and
pizza are high in salt, and 90 percent knew that foods such as
carrots are low in salt. But fewer than 30 percent of participants
knew that white bread and cheese are high in salt.
About half of the study group believed their health would improve if
they lowered their salt intake and three quarters agreed that food
manufacturers should do more to reduce salt.
But when asked which nutrients were their biggest “concern,” 65
people listed sugar, 41 said saturated fat, 35 said fat in general
and only 10 said salt was their biggest worry.
Almost three-quarters of the participants said they look for the
sodium content of foods when shopping and 38 percent said they often
buy low- or reduced-salt foods.
And people who said they read the food labels tended to report lower
sodium intake, although there was no connection between label
reading and sodium levels in urine, suggesting that even people
trying to be careful about salt were still consuming too much of it.
On average, people with type 1 diabetes had lower sodium intake than
those with type 2, and men had higher intake - a median of 2,907
milligrams a day - compared to women, with a median of 1,962
milligrams a day.
Healthy people should limit their total sodium intake to 2,300
milligrams a day, or about the amount in a tablespoon of salt,
according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. For adults with
high blood pressure, the recommendation is no more than 1500
milligrams a day.
[to top of second column] |
Lauren Graf, a dietitian at Montefiore-Einstein Cardiac Wellness
Program in New York, called the new study interesting, and
consistent with other research on hidden sodium in processed foods.
But hidden sodium is only one of many unhealthy aspects of processed
foods that have the potential to affect heart health directly and
indirectly, Graf pointed out.
“The ‘elephant in the room’ that they're not saying is that there
are so many things wrong with a lot of the processed food,” she told
Reuters Health.
“So they're basically trying to attribute the role of nutrition and
blood pressure to one micronutrient - sodium - and the reality is
there are many factors,” said Graf, who wasn’t involved in the
study.
As an example, Graf said that refined carbohydrates also tend to
raise blood pressure.
“If a diabetic were to choose a low-sodium version of a highly
processed cereal or bread, they're going to have a false sense of
security in terms of doing something good for their health because
they should be limiting a lot of those foods for a lot of reasons,”
she said.
Graf said the focus should be on shifting to eating real food and
less processed food, which will automatically reduce the sodium
content and increase the intake of beneficial antioxidants and
fiber.
“There's a lot of antioxidants in green leafy vegetables and dark
chocolate and nuts that actually seem to make the blood vessels more
flexible and improve blood pressure,” she said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1rKIVuw
Appetite, online August 13, 2014.
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
