This common diet advice could end up killing you

Is this the new bloodletting?
The low sodium diet is one dangerous dietary myth that refuses to go away.

And the group that’s leading the charge is the American Heart Association.

It claims that all Americans should cut salt to 1,500 mg a day. And what exactly that advice is based on seems to be a mystery only known to the AHA.

“There is not a single study, not one, showing (a) benefit for having a sodium intake of less than 2,300 milligrams.”

And that comes from Brian Strom, chancellor of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences who chaired the big Institute of Medicine panel review on sodium last year.

But what you will find are studies that show what can happen when salt intake goes into the AHA twilight zone.

The most recent one found it can up your risk of heart disease by 27 percent.

The just-out New England Journal of Medicine study tracked over 100,000 people from around the world for more than 3 years. Researchers found that those who ate less than 3,000 mg of sodium a day were putting themselves at big risk.

Big risk of heart attack and stroke — just what the AHA claims to be trying to help prevent.

Now if this was a surprising new look at what can happen when you consume too little salt, maybe we could say the AHA is a little behind the curve in its reading.

But this isn’t exactly brand new information.

Earlier this year, several other studies said pretty much the same thing.

One out of Canada put an optimal sodium intake between 3,000 and 6,000 mg a day. That, the researchers said, make sense since “sodium is an essential nutrient required by the body.”

Those who consumed salt in that range had “the lowest risk of death” and deadly heart problems.

Another thing all these studies seem to agree on is that exceeding a certain amount wasn’t good either.

Some researchers say you should stop at just short of 5,000 mg a day, and others give 6,000 as the upper limit.

So with all its rambling on and on about low sodium, what is it the AHA wants us to eat?

If you take a look at the list of its “Heart-Check mark” recommended foods, they may be somewhat lower in sodium, but they’re filled to the gills with “junk sodium.”

I’m talking about “hidden” forms of MSG, like yeast extract, autolyzed yeast and soy protein concentrate. Ingredients you want to avoid like the plague.

So if you’re looking for sound heart-healthy advice, it might be best to turn to former AHA executives instead.

The group’s past president, Dr. Suzanne Oparil, calls the organization’s sodium targets “questionable health policy.”

“There are so many more important things we could do,” Oparil said, that will benefit your health rather than “regulating the salt” in your diet.

In Japan, she noted, people eat more salt than in any other country.

And they live the longest.

Sources:
“Low-salt diets may pose health risks, study finds” Ron Winslow, August 13, 2014, The Wall Street Journal, online.wsj.com