A low-sodium diet does not raise blood cholesterol.Reducing the amount of sodium in a person's diet does not--as some scientists have proposed--increase blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels, researchers reported recently at the American Heart Association's 57th Annual High Blood Pressure Research Conference. In the largest study of its kind, scientists looked at what happened when volunteers ate three levels of sodium: a "high" level typical of that eaten daily by most Americans; an "intermediate" level similar to the maximum recommended intake; and a "low" level roughly half of the "intermediate" level. Consuming high amounts of sodium has been shown to increase risk for high blood pressure. Table salt (sodium chloride sodium chloride, NaCl, common salt. Properties Sodium chloride is readily soluble in water and insoluble or only slightly soluble in most other liquids. It forms small, transparent, colorless to white cubic crystals. ) is about 40 percent sodium. The study reported today examined lipid data acquired during the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension or the DASH diet is a diet promoted by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (part of the NIH) to control hypertension. (DASH)-Sodium Trial, which was conducted at four U.S. medical centers between September 1997 and November 1999. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute sponsored the study. "The main goal of the DASH-Sodium Trial was to test the effects of sodium intake on blood pressure in two distinct diets," said lead author Lawrence J. Appel, M.D., professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, is a highly regarded medical school and biomedical research institute in the United States. in Baltimore. The DASH diet emphasizes eating fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products and reduced amounts of red meat, fats and cholesterol. It is widely recommended to help people prevent or reduce high blood pressure and to lower the risk of heart disease. The study team reported in early 2001 that the DASH diet together with low sodium intake reduced blood pressure substantially. "The DASH-Sodium trial also provided an unusual opportunity to examine the effects of sodium intake on lipids," Appel said. "We had a larger sample size than any other study that has examined this issue, and we did it in a very rigorous fashion." The finding that blood lipid levels showed no notable increases among people on any of the three sodium intake levels is significant for the nation's battle against hypertension. "It is important because there are public health recommendations to reduce sodium intake to prevent or lower high blood pressure. Some people have claimed that harmful effects of sodium reduction on lipids might negate the beneficial effects on blood pressure, and there are some who say that could be harmful," said Appel. "Our results are persuasive: Sodium reduction to the recommended level or lower has no effects on lipids." The results reported today came from 390 (94.7 percent) of the 412 DASH-Sodium Trial participants for whom complete lipid data were available. Participants included people with high and normal blood pressure. High blood pressure is 140/90 millimeter of mercury Noun 1. millimeter of mercury - a unit of pressure equal to 0.001316 atmosphere; named after Torricelli mm Hg, torr pressure unit - a unit measuring force per unit area (mmHg) or higher. "This was a clinical trial in which we provided, in a controlled setting, food that had a specific nutrient content," Appel said. Participants were randomized ran·dom·ize tr.v. ran·dom·ized, ran·dom·iz·ing, ran·dom·iz·es To make random in arrangement, especially in order to control the variables in an experiment. to one of two diets. One group ate the DASH diet. The second group ate a diet more like a typical American diet--lower in fruits, vegetables and dairy products and higher in meat, fats, and cholesterol. "Basically, we found that there was no change in total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein low-density lipoprotein n. Abbr. LDL A lipoprotein that contains relatively high amounts of cholesterol and is associated with an increased risk of atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease. (LDL LDL - ["LDL: A Logic-Based Data-Language", S. Tsur et al, Proc VLDB 1986, Kyoto Japan, Aug 1986, pp.33-41]. ) cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL (Hardware Description Language) A language used to describe the functions of an electronic circuit for documentation, simulation or logic synthesis (or all three). Although many proprietary HDLs have been developed, Verilog and VHDL are the major standards. ) cholesterol, or triglycerides Triglycerides Fatty compounds synthesized from carbohydrates during the process of digestion and stored in the body's adipose (fat) tissues. High levels of triglycerides in the blood are associated with insulin resistance. with any of these amounts of sodium," Appel said. Information provided by the American Heart Association American Heart Association (AHA), n.pr a national voluntary health agency that has the goal of increasing public and medical awareness of cardiovascular diseases and stroke, and thereby reducing the number of associated deaths and disabilities. |
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