Behind every casual flip of the shaker, every "season to taste" instruction, and every meal dined out was the 40-year-old warning: too much salt causes hypertension, so limit, limit, limit! But what if we told you that the science behind that claim has, much like the salt shaker itself, been turned on its head?
Gary Taubes—science journalist and author of the much-buzzed about Why We Get Fat and this article on the insidiousness of sugar—has a new op-ed in The New York Times claiming the science behind the eat-less-salt argument is remarkably flimsy, and doesn't warrant all the attention. In fact, Taubes says new research suggests we'd be harming rather than helping ourselves if we truly ate as little salt as the U.S.D.A. and the C.D.C. recommend.
The idea that eating less salt can worsen health outcomes may sound bizarre, but it also has biological plausibility and is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, too. A 1972 paper in The New England Journal of Medicine reported that the less salt people ate, the higher their levels of a substance secreted by the kidneys, called renin, which set off a physiological cascade of events that seemed to end with an increased risk of heart disease. In this scenario: eat less salt, secrete more renin, get heart disease, die prematurely.
Taubes goes on to say that four new studies report that both healthy people and those with chronic health problems (Type 1 diabetics, Type 2 diabetics, and chronic heart failure) are more likely to have heart disease on a low-salt diet than those who eat in the normal range - that is, one and a half teaspoons of salt per day.
Read the full article and then come back and tell us: What do you think about this? Do you feel vindicated? Or are you still concerned?
Read More: Salt, We Misjudged You at The New York Times
Related: Demystifying Salt: 3 Essential Types
(Image: Jiri Hera/Shutterstock)
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My advice would be to just use unrefined sea salt instead of iodized table salt! To quote one of my teachers from nutrition school: "quality, type, amount." I don't believe the problem lies so much in the *amount* of salt we consume, but in the quality and type. Regular table salt contains so many additives, anti-caking agents, synthetic minerals, etc, and has been stripped of those that are naturally-occurring (think white sugar); THESE are what cause health problems. Unrefined sea salts, however, are loaded with trace minerals and, in moderation, can actually help to *promote* good health (i.e. balance electrolytes)!
When my mother developed thyroid problems, she asked her doctor whether she needs to eat more or less iodized salt. His response, "What makes you think you ever needed that iodine? It's completely unneccessary."
So there. Why do they keep enriching salt with iodine when most people get it from their food? Originally it was needed because so many people had iodine deficiencies due to a limited diet, but maybe it's time to revise that.
A few months ago I read that it is actually only a small percentage of people who are already predisposed to heart disease that have a sensitive to salt that would require limiting intake as an appropriate health measure. Meaning that for most people doing so has NO health benefit. My concern is always the unnatural things done to food to remove the natural elements that are bodies have evolved to process. I'd rather consume salt than whatever engineered alternative has been inserted to keep low-sodium food from tasting like cardboard.
And remember, salt the pot, not the plate. If the food tastes good to start with, you won't need to pile on the salt to begin with.
Wow, Irina, your mother's doctor was a quack. It's well established that our bodies require a certain amount of iodine. True, those of us who have access to good food can get enough from seafood and sea vegetables. But have you ever seen a huge goiter growing out of someone's neck? If you ever do, you'll be glad about public health measures to correct iodine deficiency.
Why does it have to be "eat a lot of salt, or eat practically no salt at all"?
It's funny that all those studies, and education efforts, always focus on the extremes. I guess it sells better.
Don't overdo or cut out salt, or sugar, or fat, or proteins, or... You need a bit of each, for health, for enjoyment, too much will kill you, cutting it all out will probably kill you too.
Why does everything have to be all or nothing?
Hmmm... boyfriend's dad had a heart transplant a few years ago and was put on a no-salt diet. He is doing fine, and while I can appreciate that low- or no-salt gives you a better appreciation for the true flavor of foods, sometimes you just need it for things to taste "right." For instance, white sauce with no salt would be horrifically awful. Ditto potatoes and beans.
I do think a lot of processed and chain restaurant foods are WAY over salted, however. And when I have guests I like to undersalt and then pass the shaker. Everyone has individual tastes.
This book on salt is really interesting. Why have we spent so much time as a human race procuring salt in order to live, and all of a sudden, "modern science" declares it evil? And now we come to find that they haven't really proven anything, but still hold onto these beliefs. Hmmm, sounds more like superstition to me and we know what science thinks of that.
The only time I would cut salt from my diet is if I were to eat tons of processed foods. Those are ridiculous: they add a lot of salt to make it palatable, then they add sugar because there's too much salt, and back and forth it goes. No wonder canned foods have so many ingredients. But since I cook a lot for myself, I have no qualms in salting my pasta water or making something taste good. If you are doing a lot of from-scratch cooking, you probably don't have too much to worry about.
I work in nutrition research (as a technician, not a PhD) and I'm friends with a lot of graduate students of nutrition. I talk about nutrition and food a great deal more than most people, and I've found that my coworkers are not especially concerned about salt intake. I've also read that only about 10% of people have salt-sensitive hypertension. It seems to me that excessive salt intake is something of a red herring when it comes to discussing public health. There should certainly be low salt options for those of us that are sensitive to it, and restaurants should be responsive to requests for low sodium meals. Requiring lower sodium meals for everyone is ridiculous on many levels. Chefs should be able to season their meals according to their preference without fear of reprisal from the government (and I'm no libertarian).
This is one of those "science" news stories that makes something a complicated as the renin-angiotensin system into a Yes or No answer. General commenters (including I) won't have the correct answers to this. Suffice it to say, a human that stopped all salt intake will die, as will someone who takes toxic levels. Hypertension is NOT caused by salt, but rather someone who has it can lower it by lowering salt intake. We eat Meadow artesinal salt if it matters.
l like Maldon sea salt.
I'm going to take Gary Taubes' advice on nutrition just as soon as he becomes a Registered Dietician.
I grew up with a father on a low salt diet. My brother went one way, loving salt to excess, and I like only a tease of salt, or I get a stomachache because my body is used to having so little. And as someone who is chronically dehydrated, this is sometimes a problem because your body does need a little bit of salt to hold water in. Moderation in everything, I suppose.
I once read about a study that said that a low salt diet makes you fat because your food tastes bland so you eat more of it (it's like eating chocolate - if you eat a small piece of expensive, rich, dark chocolate, your chocolate craving will be as satisfied as after eating a whole bag of M&Ms). Another one said that a low salt diet will reduce your blood pressure - by about 3 points. You decide if that's worth it. Some say it can make a big difference to some people and no difference to others. I say, don't read the studies and eat everything in moderation. Buy fresh produce, avoid processed foods, avoid soda, and exercise. If salt was so bad for us, why did our taste buds develop to have such a preference for it?
Sorry Rae1, I also disagree. I stopped serving iodized salt at the table and mentioned to my doctor that I was no longer eating it, because I wanted to be sure I wasn't causing myself hard. He said that was absolutely fine - He said we require very little actually to meet the requirements for iodine, and said that me switching over to non-iodized sea salt for serving at the table and in dinners was perfectly adequate.
Many other processed foods add it in. If you are really worried, eat it once a year.
So many myths about salt, it drives me crazy. First, most worry over sodium intake should come from packaged and processed foods, NOT table salt. Standard store-bought bread has more sodium per serving than chips or pretzels and is frequently the number one contributor of sodium in a person's diet. When it comes to seasoning one's own food, go ahead and salt away, it's a drop in the bucket compared to most things. Secondly, only about half of those with high blood pressure are salt-sensitive. In other words, even 50% of people with HYPERTENSION don't to worry about excessive salt.
Lastly sea salt vs rock salt (i.e. table salt) are both over 99% sodium chloride. While the taste may be slightly different, there are no nutritional differences.
@WILLOW_KENDER hit the nail right on the head.
The author of the NYT article is so preoccupied with ranting that he pretty much only considers the extremes. Salt should be eaten in moderation, like all other foods.
But honestly, articles like this scare me. Americans, as a whole (and yes, I am an American), eat WAY too much sodium period. If you cook all of your meals yourself, you might not have this issue, but most Americans do consume a heck of a lot of sodium. It's in places you wouldn't think of. But if you eat out, eat packaged snacks, etc., chances are, you might be eating more sodium than you think. And our taste buds have grown accustomed to eating saltier foods. The article only gives people more reason to feel like they can eat as much sodium as they want, which is just as dangerous as not eating any sodium at all, per the author.
The danger lies in hidden salt and unknown, cumulative intake. If you eat processed foods and drink sodas, you are taking in salt with almost everything you ingest.
The link to "this article" on sugar is just a link to Taubes' book selling on amazon. If you are talking about the recent 60 minutes guy on the sugar thing, that is not Taubes, but someone named Robert H. Lustig. In any event, the "and this article" link is not a link to an article.
I like Taubes a lot. He's done a lot to re-orient ourselves on carbs and fat.
Thanks for posting this! I'm a huge fan of Gary Taubes and recently read his book ("Why We're Fat...") front to back. So glad to see his work featured here.
as a physician, i have always been amazed at how people regard western medicine as the authority of how to remain healthy. when in fact, we are almost ONLY oriented toward how to fix things after they break and maintain them as they deteriorate.
western medicine is profoundly ignorant regarding how to maintain health or stave off illness. and i am not aware of any alternative systems with good evidence-based studies to show that they do.
people are proponents of what they like, based on esthetics or other principles. almost none of it is based on decent science.
from bran to salt to fat to exercise...there is hardly a definitive claim which is not eventually found to be either dubious or just plain spurious.
i believe aristototle had the best advice millennia ago: all things in moderation.
I read the article, and I can't get past the fact that the author is purporting the fallacy that we NEED salt in our diet- No we need sodium, salt is sodium chloride and we don't need the chloride, in fact our bodies must eliminate chloride to maintain health and that is why ingesting salt causes thirst. Sodium can be obtained from many nutritional sources other than salt and salt absolutely contributes to many health problems, especially adrenal disfunction.
I have never cared what "the studies" say about salt. I tend to have low blood pressure, so the hypertension issues are not a worry, and I don't eat a lot of processed foods, so that's not either. I like salty snacks, especially those new flattened pretzels (yum!), but I'm trying to lose some weight, so I AM watching my calories, and salty processed snacks do have those, sadly! But if I want salt on my supper, I go for it. No noticeable issues so far. (I think you just need to be aware of your own body and metabolism and be a little mindful about what you eat or choose not to eat. "Rules" don't usually apply to everyone equally.)
The author of the NYT article is so preoccupied with ranting
Huh? Taubes is pretty level headed and fact-oriented. I feel sorry for you if you consider pointing out the facts to be "ranting".
I can't get past the fact that the author is purporting the fallacy that we NEED salt in our diet
Well, we do. The science clearly shows it, as Taubes points out. People who eat normal amounts of it are healthier than those who restrict salt consumption.
salt absolutely contributes to many health problems
There's no science to support this. Salt may contribute to problems in a very small percentage of the population. For the vast majority, normal salt intake is nothing to be remotely concerned about.
@SUNSPOT42 "Normal" salt intake...that's part of the problem. A great portion of the population consumes more sodium, on a day to day basis, than what even the author considers normal, particularly if a person eats out or consumes snacks, whether it's pickles or potato chips. People don't even realize how much sodium is in, for example, a piece of bread.
It's good to eat everything, including sodium, in moderation, but unfortunately, I don't think the average American knows that they are eating more than a moderate amount of sodium.
The author doesn't address this reality.
Presumably, "normal" salt intake would be the daily average consumed by the general population. That would include all the salt added to things like bread, snacks and processed foods.
It's worth pointing out the Japanese eat a hell of a lot of salt, yet suffer from lower rates of obesity and hypertension than, say, Americans. There certainly doesn't seem to be much of a correlation between salt consumption and health, except at the extremes, apart from a very small population of folks who are salt-sensitive.
Meh. I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing, which is trying to avoid processed foods and then pouring the salt on things when I get home.
@borage, I believe this is the sugar article (and yes, he does talk about Lustig, among others).
FINALLY!!! Proof I'm not crazy! :) My family and friends always tell me I eat too much salt, but the truth is; I need it! My blood pressure is always good when I go to the doctor and when I was pregnant, I was told I needed to eat more! Personally, I think I know what my body needs and where I'm deficient. I don't know "everything" about my body, but when I crave something, I know I'm lacking a particular nutrient that food provides. Sometimes it's just a matter of listening to your body.