A high-salt dietary intake has been implicated in cardiovascular disease, glucose
intolerance, autoimmune conditions, and even cancer. A high-salt diet interferes with
treatment responses to antihypertensive drugs, the most common medications prescribed,
and is presumed to exacerbate heart failure. Preliminary evidence exists that a high-salt
diet is a treatment barrier for disease. However, the overarching mechanisms explaining
how the increased risk comes about by ingesting a high-salt diet are unclear. Although
a link between a high-salt intake and increased blood pressure appears irrefutable,
the precise mechanisms remain elusive. According to textbook teaching, body salt content
is maintained constant after a few days when salt intake is altered (steady state),
because 24-hour Na+ excretion is similar to intake. Na+ resides extracellularly. The Na+ concentration is similar in plasma and interstitium, thereby creating an isotonic
microenvironment, which bathes the body's cells. Thus, Na+ in the body and volume regulation are closely coupled. Na+ retention results in volume expansion with circulatory adjustments to maintain tissue
flows constant, and Na+ depletion is associated with volume depletion.
1
Blood pressure changes should happen accordingly. But are matters indeed that straightforward?To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 18, 2014
Accepted:
February 12,
2014
Received:
January 15,
2014
Footnotes
See page 475 for disclosure information.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 Canadian Cardiovascular Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
