Loading ...Is It True That Salt Is Bad for Your Heart?
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
“Conventional wisdom” states that a high-sodium diet will increase your blood pressure, thereby raising your risk for a cardiac event. However, this claim is largely based on uncontrolled case reports from the early 1900s
A 2018 systematic review found no evidence of benefit from a low-sodium diet for those with heart failure
The randomized controlled SODIUM-HF trial, published in April 2022, also found no benefit for patients with Class 2 or 3 heart failure, as lower sodium intake had no statistically significant impact on clinical events
Contrary to popular belief, it’s actually hard to consume harmful amounts of sodium, but it’s easy to end up with too little. Symptoms of sodium deficiency include muscle fatigue, muscle spasm, cramps, heart palpitations, lethargy and confusion
Low-salt recommendations rarely take coffee intake into account, even though coffee consumption is extremely common and will rapidly deplete your salt stores. Sweating will also eliminate salt from your body, so if you sweat a lot, you may get rid of more than you add back in if you’re on a low-salt diet