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Low Salt Increases Your Risk of Heart Attacks

author avatar Dr. Eric Berg 10/01/2021

Cutting all salt out of your diet can be dangerous for your vascular health! Find out why.

Timestamps

0:00 Introduction: low salt increases your risk of heart attacks

0:17 Studies on low-sodium diets

1:27 The importance of potassium for heart health

2:03 Why low sodium is bad for your heart

2:29 Key takeaways

2:41 Share your success story!

In this video, we’re going to talk about why low salt increases your risk of heart attacks.

To many, this is going to be brand new information. We’ve been told that sodium is bad for the heart and that it can increase your risk of having heart attacks and strokes. However, research shows that this isn’t true.

A study involving 137,000 people in 18 countries and 667 different communities stirred up a lot of controversy about sodium intake. The researchers found that those who consume less than 3 grams of sodium per day have an increased risk of heart attack and stroke compared to those who consume a moderate amount of sodium.

The World Health Organization recommends 2.0 to 2.4 grams of sodium per day. However, the optimal range is between 4 and 5 grams of sodium daily. Below 3 grams per day is considered low sodium, which can increase your risk of having a heart attack.

Having over 5 grams of sodium can also increase your heart attack risk. It’s best to stay within the range of 4 to 5 grams.

Potassium is also very important for your cardiovascular health, including your blood pressure levels.

The question is, why are low levels of sodium bad for your heart?

Low sodium increases aldosterone, which is an adrenal hormone. High aldosterone can cause high blood pressure and damage to your heart. In fact, certain blood pressure medications work by inhibiting aldosterone.

DATA: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6240978/
 

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