Health Claims

In men and women with high blood pressure in Shanxi Province, women’s blood pressure seems to be more closely linked to how much salt and potassium they pee out, and this link shows up in more ways than it does in men.

Correlational

In people with high blood pressure in Shanxi Province, those who excrete more sodium in their urine tend to have higher blood pressure—even when you account for things like age, weight, diabetes, and cholesterol—and this link is even stronger in women.

Correlational

In Shanxi Province, men with high blood pressure tend to pee out more salt than women with high blood pressure, even though they both pee out similar amounts of potassium—this suggests men might be eating more salt or keeping more salt in their bodies than women.

Descriptive

People in Shanxi Province with high blood pressure who pee out less potassium tend to have higher blood pressure, especially at night—and this pattern is stronger in women than in men.

Correlational

In people in Shanxi Province with high blood pressure, those who excrete more sodium in their urine tend to have higher blood pressure readings, and this link is even stronger in women, which might mean salt affects women’s blood pressure more than men’s.

Correlational

Eating more fruits and veggies to get more potassium might help your heart even more, especially if you're already trying to eat less salt.

Causal

In rich countries, most salt in our food comes from packaged snacks and restaurant meals, but in poorer countries, people usually add salt themselves while cooking or use salty sauces like soy sauce.

Descriptive

On average, people around the world eat way more salt than doctors recommend—about twice as much. Health experts say we should eat less than 5 grams a day, but most of us are eating nearly 11 grams.

Descriptive

Eating too much salt is linked to higher blood pressure and a greater risk of heart problems in adults.

Correlational

If you eat less salt, your blood pressure tends to go down, and you’re less likely to have a stroke, heart problems, or die early.

Correlational

Eating less salt might help keep your heart healthy and prevent serious heart problems, especially if you're not already at high risk for heart disease.

Causal

Using salt substitutes doesn’t really help prevent strokes — out of 1000 people, maybe just one less person will have a stroke over time.

Quantitative

Switching to salt substitutes may help prevent 12 out of every 1000 people from dying from any cause, and 9 out of every 1000 from heart-related problems, over time.

Causal

Eating less salt can lower your blood pressure a little bit, and that might help keep your heart healthier and prevent heart problems.

Causal

If you've had a stroke before, switching from normal salt to a special salt that has less sodium and more potassium might lower your blood pressure by about 2 points — not a lot, but maybe helpful.

Correlational

For people who’ve had a stroke before, using a special salt that has less sodium and more potassium doesn’t raise their risk of having too much potassium in their blood — the numbers show it’s basically the same as regular salt.

Correlational

If you've had a stroke before, switching to a special salt that has less sodium and more potassium might help keep you from having another stroke or dying from one — and it doesn’t seem to cause dangerous potassium buildup in your blood.

Causal

For people on dialysis who already have high inflammation, eating less salt may help lower certain body chemicals that cause inflammation, without affecting their nutrition or blood counts.

Correlational

For people on dialysis, eating less salt for 4 months doesn’t change their blood pressure or fluid buildup, even though it lowers some signs of body inflammation.

Causal

For people on dialysis who have high levels of body inflammation, cutting back salt to 2 grams a day for 4 months may lower their inflammation markers without affecting their blood pressure or fluid levels.

Correlational

People with high blood pressure who have certain genes that make them more prone to high blood pressure tend to see their blood pressure drop more when they switch to low-sodium salt, compared to others with those same genes but lower risk.

Causal

If people with high blood pressure switch to a low-sodium salt for three years, their top blood pressure number (systolic) tends to go down—but their genes don’t seem to change how much their bottom number (diastolic) changes.

Correlational

For people with high blood pressure, using a special low-sodium salt for three years might lower their systolic blood pressure more than regular salt—especially if they have certain genes that make them more likely to have high blood pressure. The drop is about 9.2 points on average.

Correlational

Cutting back on salt might seem healthy, but for some people who don’t have high blood pressure, it could accidentally raise or lower their blood pressure in ways that aren’t good.

Causal