SuppVersity - Nutrition and Exercise Science for Everyone

Salt reduction is for "hard-sweating" athletes not. Whenever I am browsing the latest studies, I see at least one of those hilarious "salt kills" papers citing official recommendations to reduce sodium intake, in order to lower your risk for hypertension, diabetes, stroke and what not. So, if everyone recommends it and scientists write about, it must be true, right? Well, I guess after reading today's SuppVersity article, you may question the way the average Westerner thinks: What the government suggests you should do is not always good for you. You, a decently lean & insulin sensitive individual who works out at least thrice a week, and someone who takes the stairs instead of the elevator at least every other day, may in fact put himself / herself at risk of hampering your workout performance and eventually even your health if you reduce your salt intake too much. Normal salt and sodium bicarbonate are not bad for athletes: The Hazards of Acid...

Salt is a four-letter-word today - literally and figuratively; and so would be NaCl, if it was a word and not the combination of the acronyms for natrium, or as Americans like to all it "sodium", and chloride and that despite the fact that low Cl may put your life at risk. From my previous articles and Facebook posts on the questionable usefulness of dietary salt restriction you will remember that several epidemiological studies have already shown that a very low salt intake can be associated with increases in cardiovascular and all cause mortality. In NHANES I, for example, total sodium intake was inversely associated with all-cause (p=0·0069) and CVD mortality (Alderman. 1998) You may also have heard me say and write that some scientists have suggested that we should better focus on the chloride rather than the sodium atom in NaCl, if we wanted to rid ourselves of the hypertension problem we are facing these days. Against that background, it sounds somewhat surprisin...

A single Triple Whopper or about six whole steaks, what do you chose to get >75% of the 2g/sodium per day the feds are telling you you should maximally consume on a daily basis? Today I felt kind of bored with covering only the latest studies. So I dug up one from 1999 that deals with the effects of dietary salt restriction on endothelial vasodilation (increased blood flow in the arteries) and insulin sensitivity by Ross D. Feldman and Nancy D. Schmidt. Yeah, the study is 14 years old, but when you've read today's SuppVersity article you'll probably still have learned something new - at least about "common wisdom". If you also listen to the SuppVersity Science Round-Up on the Super Human Radio Network , you should be aware that very different rules apply with respect to salt consumption for athletes and physical culturists on a whole foods diet and the average sedentary inhabitant of the Western obesity belt (check out past episodes of the Science Round-U...