X-Message-Number: 9541
Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 20:57:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: Doug Skrecky <>
Subject: interesting bit on salt & calories from longevity digest

Date:    Thu, 23 Apr 1998 09:23:50 -0700
From:    Longevity-Digest/Brian Rowley <>
Subject: CNN - Study finds low salt diets unhealthy - March 13, 1998

 ****from ***

Okay, here's a fly in the low-salt ointment.... (Do visit their web site,
this is publicity, not a copyright violation.)

        Richard Kaufman


Subject: CNN - Study finds low salt diets unhealthy - March 13, 1998

http://cnn.com/HEALTH/9803/13/salt.reut/index.html

>     [CNN logo]             [Health banner] [CNNenEspanol.com]
>  [Navigation]
>   COMMUNITY                               [rule]
>      Message
>      Boards          Study finds low salt diets unhealthy
>        Chat
>    Feedback          March 13, 1998                      [salt shaker]
>                      Web posted at: 3:58 a.m. EST (0858
>         SITE         GMT)
>     SOURCES
>    Contents          LONDON (Reuters) -- Low salt diets could be
>       Help!          hazardous to your health, U.S. doctors warned on
>      Search
>                      Friday.
>          CNN
>    Networks          Contrary to the common belief that eating too much
>                      salt can lead to heart attacks and strokes,
>    SPECIALS          lowering your sodium intake may actually be
>        Quick         harmful, doctors at the Albert Einstein College of
>        News          Medicine in New York said.
>     Almanac
>        Video         "Cancel current recommendations to reduce salt
>       Vault          intake, and wait for more data," epidemiology and
>   News Quiz          social medicine professor Michael Alderman said in
>                      a statement.
>
>   [Infoseek/Big YelloStudy finds mortality inversely related to salt
>                      intake
>
>   [Pathfinder/Warner In a study published in the Lancet medical
>                      journal, Alderman and his team analysed the diets
>                      of 11,000 people who took part in the first
>   [Barnes and Noble] National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
>                      that started in 1971 in the United States.
>
>                      "Our survey provides no support for
>   [Parent Time link] recommendations to lower sodium as a goal of
>                      dietary policy," Alderman said.
>
>   [BHN logo]         "Those recommendations are based on data
>                      indicating that less salt means lower blood
>                      pressure, which is true for some but not all
>                      people. Moreover, there are lots of ways to lower
>                      blood pressure, and not all are good for you;
>                      indeed, our study suggests that lowering sodium
>                      may actually be harmful."
>
>                      Ironically, Alderman and his team found that
>                      mortality was inversely related to salt intake.
>                      The more salt people reported eating, the less
>                      likely they were to die from cardiovascular or
>                      other diseases.
>
>                      Study casts doubts on earlier studies
>
>                      When the team looked at salt intake in relation to
>                      total calories the results were even more
>                      interesting. At each level of salt intake people
>                      who consumed fewer calories were more likely to
>                      die than those who consumed more calories.
>
>                      Heart disease is the leading cause of death in
>                      most developed countries and high blood pressure
>                      is a major risk factor. Specialists, convinced
>                      that high salt intake increased blood pressure,
>                      had advised people to cut down on it.
>
>                      An earlier study, also published in the Lancet,
>                      linked a high salt diet to osteoporosis, stomach
>                      cancer, asthma and fluid retention.
>
>                      But Alderman is not alone in his beliefs.
>
>                      Canadian hypertension expert Alexander Logan
>                      reached similar conclusions in research published
>                      in The Journal of the American Medical Association
>                      nearly two years ago. He concluded that the
>                      harmful effects of restricting salt intake were
>                      not fully appreciated, and doctors should not
>                      assume a low-salt diet was harmless.
>
>                      Alderman said the relationship between salt intake
>                      and other dietary components may be so complex
>                      that across-the-board guidelines may never be
>                      possible.
>
>                      Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights
>                      reserved.


                -Richard Kaufmans

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End of LONGEVITY-DIGEST Digest - 22 Apr 1998 to 23 Apr 1998
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