Recently by Dr. David Brownstein: Avoid Sucralose
For years, I have been lecturing and writing about the nonsensical argument the conventional powers-that-be claim that lowering salt in the diet will reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease. The data has never been shown that lowering salt intake to ridiculously low levels of 1,500mg/day will reduce your risk of heart disease. In fact, many studies show that lowering your salt intake to these levels will cause more heart attacks and mortality. Furthermore, low salt diets will lead to elevated insulin levels. Finally, low salt diets do not significantly lower blood pressure. More information about this can be found in my book, Salt Your Way To Health.
A recent study in JAMA (November 23/30, 2011-Vol. 306, No. 20) looked at the association between sodium excretion and cardiovascular events in patients with established cardiovascular events or diabetes. The authors studied nearly 29,000 adults and found cardiovascular death was increased among those with the lowest and the highest sodium excretion.
Sodium excretion is tied to how much sodium (or salt) is ingested. The more salt that is ingested the more sodium that is excreted in the urine. The reverse is true also; the less sodium ingested, the less sodium excreted. A crude estimate can be made that the amount of sodium ingested is equal to the amount of sodium excreted (as long as someone is not sodium deficient).
We have been told we are ingesting too much salt. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) states, “Americans consume unhealthy amounts of sodium in their food, far exceeding public health recommendations. Consuming too much sodium is a concern for all individuals, as it increases the risk for high blood pressure, a serious health condition that is avoidable and can lead to a variety of diseases. Analysts estimate that population-wide reductions in sodium could prevent more than 100,000 deaths annually.”
David Brownstein, M.D. is a Board-Certified family physician and is one of the foremost practitioners of holistic medicine. He is the Medical Director of the Center for Holistic Medicine in West Bloomfield, MI. Dr. Brownstein has lectured internationally to physicians and others about his success in using natural hormones and nutritional therapies in his practice.
