We may be wrong about salt

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A study published this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association came to the surprising conclusion that too much salt might not raise the risk of cardiovascular disease complications after all. Making matters even more confusing, death rates appeared to be higher in those with lower sodium levels.

The study instantly ignited debate over population-wide efforts to get folks to put down their shakers and cut back on hidden sources of salt.

For the most part, the problem with salt is the setting in which you find it. The vast majority of “processed” or convenience foods are high in both fat and salt. It’s the fat that’s the big problem. As for the benefits of reducing salt, only about 5 percent of people have a salt sensitivity that is the primary cause of their hypertension. The major contributors to hypertension are obesity and diabetes.

Salt by itself is not bad. For people at a healthy weight, without illnesses like heart failure, there’s a big zone of safe salt intake. But remember that 65 percent of the American public is overweight and 32 percent are obese. And about 50 percent of those aged 45 to 65 have metabolic syndrome.