CommonHealth: To Salt Or Not To Salt? The Question Remains

08:30

May 04, 2011

A new study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) puts much of our understanding about salt to the test.

Salt shaker (Nick Harris1/Flickr) — (Nick Harris1/Flickr)

A European study led by noted researcher Jan Stassen followed 3,600 subjects for several years and found that the highest number of cardiac deaths were evident in those who consumed the least salt, whereas those who consumed higher amounts of salt had the lowest amount of cardiac deaths. Additionally, higher salt intake did not translate to higher blood pressure over time.

The authors, aware this news may induce wild confusion for both patients and doctors, conclude that lowering salt intake is still helpful for those battling high blood pressure but eschewing the condiment altogether may not be the best policy for the greater population.

Carey Goldberg of WBUR's health blog, CommonHealth, explains.

Guest:

Carey Goldberg, co-host, WBUR's CommonHealth

More:

CommonHealth: Take this study with many grains of salt

This segment aired on May 4, 2011.