Salt and Blood Pressure

Abstract

Current evidence does not support the view that the claimed association between salt intake and blood pressure is causal. In intercultural studies it is impossible to distinguish between a genuinely causal relationship and a relationship due to the role of salt intake as a marker for different life-styles. Physiological studies suggest that the Western intake of salt corresponds to a physiological set point selected when free choice is offered as the mid-point between harmful physiological extremes. When flawed intervention studies are excluded there is no evidence that a moderate reduction in salt intake would produce a significant blood pressure fall in healthy individuals although blood pressure falls can be produced in some hypertensive subjects.

Key Words:

• hypertension
• salt intake
• sodium
• population studies
• intervention studies