Once you're diagnosed with high blood pressure like me, you practically have to keep the salt shaker hidden under your mattress. You'd actually think the Morton's Salt girl was carrying a coffin instead of an umbrella!
But now a new Canadian study might just be the final end for the Great Salt Myth. Researchers have proven that if you have high blood pressure, cutting back on salt isn't just dangerous, it might in fact even kill you.
It doesn't seem to matter how many studies come out on the health benefits of salt -- or that our bodies can't survive without it. The mainstream -- and our government -- aren't about to admit they've been giving terrible advice to people with high blood pressure for decades.
Just ask Dr. Andrew Mente, a top researcher from McMaster University. Mente has been under constant attack since he released his new study proving that a low-salt diet can be a death sentence for people with hypertension. Of course, if the people who are attacking Mente would bother to read his study, they'd see he's right on the money.
I find it interesting that Mente actually pooled together the results of four different studies involving 133,000 people from 49 different countries. And he found that cutting back on salt is a lot more dangerous for you than eating too much of it.
In fact, people with high blood pressure who consumed less than 3,000 mg. of salt a day were a whopping 34 percent more likely to have a heart attack or stroke.
Even if you don't have high blood pressure, a low-salt diet can increase your heart attack or stroke risk by a frightening 26 percent. You'd think that would be enough to get the mainstream thinking twice about its war on salt. But it doesn't look like that's going to happen any time soon.
The minute the ink dried on Mente's study, a former president of the American Heart Association claimed he wasn't buying it -- and that it "should not be used to guide public policy." Are you kidding? If a study with 133,000 people won't convince the AHA, it looks like nothing will.
The AHA has spent years recommending a dangerous 1,500 mg. salt limit for high blood pressure -- and it's not about to admit it's been putting all of us in harm's way. These guys probably still believe that the Earth is flat and the moon is made of green cheese (and low-salt cheese at that)!
But the fact is, Mente's study wasn't the first to prove that the science behind low-salt diets is paper thin. A study out of Germany 12 years ago also found that ditching salt is unhealthy for seniors. Most North Americans consume about 3,400 mg. of salt a day -- and that's right where we should be, according to this latest research.
If you have high blood pressure and have been purposely depriving yourself of salt, print this article and show it to your doctor. See what he/she has to say about salt used with moderation in your diet.
Your taste buds may be glad that you did!
...And I'm glad to know that it is not going to kill me. I've never been a heavy salt user anyway but I always like it on my French fries.
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