Salt Wars
A new JAMA study finds a strong correlation: the third of folks who eat the least salt die over three times as often as the third of folks who eat the most salt. Yet other studies almost as big find contrary effects. I find it quite disturbing that such big studies can show such different results; something is very wrong in big diet correlation study land.
Translation: No one really knows how much salt is bad for you, so eat it in moderation.
Isn’t that how it goes with almost everything in life?
I have no idea who to believe.
Different people have different reactions to salt. People who are salt-sensitive should avoid it (like people with peanut allergies should avoid peanuts, even when they’re unsalted).
Advocates of cutting back on salt proclaimed the new study deeply flawed. They argued the study only followed about 4,000 thousand people over two decades. This supposedly was not enough to draw an inference. But this study followed people who did not have a cardiovascular problems. Other studies looked at people who were at risk of heart disease. This study found people who had no risk were not harmed by consuming higher levels of salt. The jury is still out about how much risk there is from salt.
Interesting conclusion when it appears that most of their adjusted hazard ratio’s suggest their findings could be by chance.