How can one counter a high salt diet?

[MichaelEmouse]

I've been reading the labels of what I eat and it seems quite difficult to avoid eating more the recommended amount of salt.

What are the health effects of a high salt diet?

How can someone counter the negative effects of a high salt diet? Would drinking lots of water do it?

[friedo]

Drinking more water will make you piss more. That may or may not matter, depending on if you get enough water in the first place.

The best way to counter a high salt diet is to eat less salt. I recommend vegetables and fruits. (French fries and ketchup do not count.)

[Ambivalid]

How can someone counter the negative effects of a high salt diet?

Exercise.

[Zagzigger]

Go here: http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD009217/advice-to-reduce-the-amount-of-salt-eaten-reduces-blood-pressure-but-there-is-insufficient-evidence-to-confirm-the-predicted-reductions-in-people-dying-prematurely-or-suffering-cardiovascular-disease

[Ambivalid]

The best way to counter a high salt diet is to eat less salt.

Well then it wouldn't be a "high-salt" diet then, would it?:confused: That's like telling a fat person the best way to not be fat is to lose weight.

[Hockey Monkey]

Eat more things that don't come with labels. Drink more water.

[Michael63129]

Some studies say that the ratio of sodium to potassium is more important than how much sodium you get, like this one (http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryhusten/2011/07/12/study-finds-sodium-potassium-ratio-strongly-tied-to-mortality-and-cv-disease/):

As expected, they found that higher sodium intake was associated with an increased risk of death while higher potassium intake was associated with a lower risk of death. However, potassium intake but not sodium intake was significantly associated with cardiovascular and coronary mortality.

Although that seems to say that only heart disease deaths are reduced by increasing potassium intake and sodium still increases the risk of other causes of death.

FWIW, many "reduced/low sodium" foods use potassium to replace some of the sodium (some people say they don't like the taste but it still tastes good to me; presumably they are referring to sodium-free salt substitutes, not reduced sodium food; I myself only eat reduced sodium foods if they are available since it is healthier; there is no history of HBP or heart disease in my family).

Of course, the best way to reduce sodium intake is to petition the food industry to reduce sodium in its products (I have at times fancied a restriction of 1 milligram of sodium per calorie - that would be 2,000 mg for a standard 2,000 calorie diet, compared to 2,300 mg currently - the only way to ever get too much is to overeat). As well as the use of even nastier things like trans fats (these are easier to avoid though and more products are being made trans fat-free, not that trans fat-free cookies or cake are healthy).

[Senegoid]

Well then it wouldn't be a "high-salt" diet then, would it?:confused: That's like telling a fat person the best way to not be fat is to lose weight.

It's like telling poor people that the solution to their poverty is to have more money!

[Senegoid]

Drinking more water will make you piss more. That may or may not matter, depending on if you get enough water in the first place.

What IS the Straight Dope® on this anyway? If you drink more water, and in turn piss more (say, even to the point that your pee becomes nearly clear), will you in fact excrete more salt that way?

[Aurelia]

Eating too much salt can raise your blood pressure. It may not necessarily affect you, though, so if you haven't had your blood pressure checked in a while, you can test it yourself for free by going to a drugstore (CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, etc.) and using their blood pressure machine. It's usually near the pharmacy.

It's not just the total amount of salt you're consuming that affects your health, it's the ratio of sodium to potassium. Ideally, it should be 1:2. You should consume more high-potassium foods to balance out the salt in your diet. Coconut water has become popular lately because of its high potassium content. I don't like the taste of plain coconut water, so I drink the flavored kind. (My favorite is the chocolate flavor made by Zico. They add a little coconut cream and sugar, so it tastes like chocolate milk.) Other high-potassium foods include potatoes, avocados, bananas, apricots, cantaloupe, beans, milk, yogurt, and certain juices, particularly orange and tomato juice.

[si_blakely]

Exercise.This. I used to have high blood pressure, and had a diet far to high in salt. So I started exercising. I exercise till my shirt is really soaked in sweat, generally twice a day (1 hour aerobic running/cycling/swimming, one hour at the gym in a circuit class or weights).

I don't worry about salt in my diet any more (in fact, some days I have to grab some salted nuts to stop the cramps), and my blood pressure is now excellent. So reducing sodium by sweating during exercise really does help your blood pressure.

Si

[UDS]

This. I used to have high blood pressure, and had a diet far to high in salt. So I started exercising. I exercise till my shirt is really soaked in sweat, generally twice a day (1 hour aerobic running/cycling/swimming, one hour at the gym in a circuit class or weights).

I don't worry about salt in my diet any more (in fact, some days I have to grab some salted nuts to stop the cramps), and my blood pressure is now excellent. So reducing sodium by sweating during exercise really does help your blood pressure.
There may be more than sweating happening here. Could your newly-fit body be metabolising more effectively?

[RealityChuck]

The simplest solution is to avoid prepared foods and don't add salt to your cooking. You can leave out salt in just about any recipe (exceptions are bread, which needs some to control rising, and fried potatoes, which I like if they taste salty).

Don't add it at the table.

There are plenty of myths about salt and flavor that are basically just rationalizations of the fact that most Americans people like their food salty. Once you stop, you will quickly get used to it, and you can actually taste the flavor of the food, not the salt.

[friedo]

Well then it wouldn't be a "high-salt" diet then, would it?:confused: That's like telling a fat person the best way to not be fat is to lose weight.

Well, it is. Sometimes the solution to a problem is more obvious than we'd like to admit.

[DSeid]

Some studies say that the ratio of sodium to potassium is more important than how much sodium you get...Please note: that article is not stating that the harms of keeping sodium high can be offset by elevating potassium intake. It is merely stating that high low sodium to potassium ratio is a superior marker for health outcomes than measuring either alone. Which makes perfect sense since that ratio will be strongly effected doing what RealityChuck advises. The best way to get a low sodium to potassium ratio is to eat less processed crap and more real foods, including fruits, veggies, beans, fish, poultry, lean meats, and whole grain foods with lots of fiber. A low ratio is likely a marker for those behaviors.The authors point out that salt is frequently added to processed foods, thereby increasing the sodium-potassium ratio, while fruits, vegetables and dairy products tend to have a lower ratio. Therefore, “a low sodium-potassium ratio may be a marker of high intake of plant foods and lower intake of processed foods.” They conclude that “public health recommendations should emphasize simultaneous reduction in sodium intake and increase in potassium intake.”

In an invited commentary, Lynn Silver and Thomas Farley write that the”safest and preferred pathway” to increase dietary potassium is to increase the “consumption of unprocessed, potassium-rich fruits and vegetables” Shocking that those who have those behaviors have the best health outcomes!

[Eliot Ness]

If your canned soup or stew is too salty, just add instant rice. Not only will it taste less salty, but it will be less sodium per calorie, i.e. per serving if you adjust serving size proportionately.
Similarly, you can modify most per-packaged foods by adding something fresh.
A frozen burger? Add a slice of lettuce and tomato.
And it doesn't have to actually go into the food, just add it to your serving.
When I eat something fatty, like bologna, I will eat celery sticks or a napa cabbage stalk. I call it the antidote method. Eat what you like but immediately balance out the excess fat, salt, sugar with something else. It's that averages that count.

[Fuzzy Dunlop]

Well then it wouldn't be a "high-salt" diet then, would it?:confused: That's like telling a fat person the best way to not be fat is to lose weight.

But losing weight is the best way to not be fat... I agree it's an apt comparison you've made though.

Eat more things that don't come with labels. Drink more water.

Eat less bread. Bread, especially the delicious dense Real Bakery breads that taste so good are incredibly high in sodium. They also don't taste salty. If you eat a can of campbell's soup you know you're eating a lot of salt. A big piece of sourdough? I don't think most people realize how salty it is.

[Ambivalid]

Well, it is. Sometimes the solution to a problem is more obvious than we'd like to admit.

Well he wasn't asking how he could minimize his sodium intake, he was asking how he could mitigate the health effects of his already high sodium intake.

[KarlGauss]

What IS the Straight Dope® on this anyway? If you drink more water, and in turn piss more (say, even to the point that your pee becomes nearly clear), will you in fact excrete more salt that way?There is an obligate loss of salt whenever you pee, even in the most dilute urine. But, the amount of salt you'd lose that way, simply by drinking more water, is pretty much irrelevant in the face of increased salt intake. (IOW, salt and water are, by and large, independently handled in the body/kidney).

Thankfully, for most people, the body just pees out excess salt. Still, that is not the case for a fair-sized minority of people (maybe one in three or four). In those individuals who don't/can't pee out the excess salt, high blood pressure can result. And, high BP can lead to all sorts of really nasty things (and the person feels just fine until the day that nasty thing occurs).

If "everyone" lowers their salt intake, most people will be doing it unnecessarily. But for the 30 percent or so who have trouble peeing out excess salt, such a population-based change would be a good thing.

[Senegoid]

Thankfully, for most people, the body just pees out excess salt. Still, that is not the case for a fair-sized minority of people (maybe one in three or four). In those individuals who don't/can't pee out the excess salt, high blood pressure can result. And, high BP can lead to all sorts of really nasty things (and the person feels just fine until the day that nasty thing occurs).

If "everyone" lowers their salt intake, most people will be doing it unnecessarily. But for the 30 percent or so who have trouble peeing out excess salt, such a population-based change would be a good thing.

So, could a urine test determine which class of individuals one belongs to? Could a doctor (actually, a lab test) tell me if I'm a salt-pee'er or not?

[Wesley Clark]

I'm on a diuretic for my blood pressure, I know that can remove some of the sodium in my body. I have no idea if I am salt sensitive or not though, or if it even matters.

[KarlGauss]

So, could a urine test determine which class of individuals one belongs to? Could a doctor (actually, a lab test) tell me if I'm a salt-pee'er or not?Alas, no. AFAIK, there is no agreed upon test (at least one routinely used/available); nor for that matter is there even a consensus for the definition of what constitutes so-called "salt-sensitivity". And, not everyone even agrees that "salt-sensitivity" exists.

What you're getting at is a Holy Grail of hypertension research. Look here for an example of the state of things (http://www.springerlink.com/content/24235117234543j1/) (not because it's a terribly important article but, rather, because the introduction summarizes some of the problem. And, the implication is that we better start looking for genetic tests because 'traditional' tests don't cut it).

[DSeid]

Why wouldn't measurements of salt excretion (over creatinine or over 24 hour collection) after defined 24 hour salt loads work? Not practical perhaps, but would it work?

[KarlGauss]

Why wouldn't measurements of salt excretion (over creatinine or over 24 hour collection) after defined 24 hour salt loads work? Not practical perhaps, but would it work?Indeed, that type of test is, and has been, used. Problem is that it's not practical to implement on large scale. Not only is it labour and time intensive (and expensive), but it requires a lot of controls (e.g. standardized intake not just of salt but other nutrients/elements since they, too, affect salt excretion, posture (supine vs upright), medications (obviously), comorbidities, etc.). And, even then, it's not totally clear how to interpret the results or know what they actually mean vis a vis BP and CV risk in the real world.

[Hari Seldon]

My doctor claims that excess salt is hard on the kidneys. I assume he knows something to back up this claim. I have gotten used to never adding salt at the table, with a few exceptions. (Soup based on stock I have made with no salt in it, eggs that I really don't enjoy without salt.) When I make bread, I automatically halve the salt in the recipe and so on. And I use a lot of pepper.

[Wesley Clark]

My doctor claims that excess salt is hard on the kidneys. I assume he knows something to back up this claim. I have gotten used to never adding salt at the table, with a few exceptions. (Soup based on stock I have made with no salt in it, eggs that I really don't enjoy without salt.) When I make bread, I automatically halve the salt in the recipe and so on. And I use a lot of pepper.

I've used the half and half salt that is a mix of sodium and potassium. Other people I know claim Ms Dash spices work well as a salt substitute.

On an unrelated note what are the effects of high sodium on those who are vs aren't sodium sensitive? I thought reducing sodium only took 5 points or so off your BP. Does that mean that 70%+ do not see a reduction in BP from reducing salt but the other 30% see a 5 point reduction, or do that 30% see a higher than 5 point reduction but because most people see no improvement it averages out to about 5 points.

Looking it up, this says only 10-20% of people are salt sensitive.

http://www.emaxhealth.com/1275/why-salt-makes-blood-pressure-rise-new-study

FWIW, I know my blood pressure is extremely stress sensitive (chronic and acute stress both affect my BP strongly but in different ways). I also get tons of benefits and side effects from both alpha and beta blockers (which is why I can't take either). I wonder if my body is just hyper sensitive to the effects of adrenaline and noradrenaline.