Question
My doctor has been on my case to scale back the salt in my weight loss program. But I like salt, and I've heard that not all medical studies show that a low-salt weight loss program actually improves your health. Can you confuse me?
Oh You're right – the worth of a low-salt weight loss program for the typical person has been controversial. Many studies show that a low-salt weight loss program improves cardiovascular health. However, the studies have limitations: some included relatively few people, and a few measured how much salt people eat but not how much salt they really eat.
Fortunately, a randomized trial published online on August 21, 2021 by the identical journal got here to a transparent conclusion. Over the subsequent five years, about 21,000 people in China were randomly assigned to make use of a salt substitute that mixed potassium chloride and sodium chloride, or to make use of regular table salt (all sodium chloride). Study participants were all 60 years of age or older, had experienced a stroke previously, and had hypertension (hypertension). In the group that used the salt substitute, the danger of other strokes, heart problems, and death was 12% to 14% lower than within the group that used table salt. We cannot know if the identical is true in younger people, individuals who will not be Chinese, or individuals who have had no history of stroke or heart problems.
Controversial clinical issues are rarely fully resolved by recent studies, as all studies have limitations. Nevertheless, I consider these two studies to offer strong evidence that diets high in sodium chloride ought to be avoided, and that we must always probably increase our use of salt substitutes containing potassium chloride. . I shall be
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