The Study
High-carbohydrate diet: antinatriuretic and blood pressure response in normal men.
This study watched 7 healthy men eat different diets and recorded what happened to their bodies. It can show that something changed when they ate more carbs, but it can't prove that the carbs caused the change because the study wasn't set up like a proper experiment with random groups.
Analysis score
Maximum 44 for a cross-sectional study.
Where the score came from
When healthy guys ate more carbs, their bodies held onto salt for a few days, but then things went back to normal. Their blood pressure didn’t go up.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 525 / 100
Quality score
Snapshots of a population at a single point in time, or descriptions of small groups. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine cause and effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Even though the body briefly holds onto more salt when eating lots of carbs, it adjusts quickly and doesn’t raise blood pressure in healthy people.
- 2After switching to 52% carbs, salt in urine dropped in 2–3 days but returned to normal by week 2.
- 3Blood pressure stayed the same the whole time.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
The American journal of clinical nutrition
Year
1986
Authors
H. Affarah, W. Hall, S. Heymsfield, M. Kutner, J. Wells, E. Tuttle
Related Content
Claims (4)
Eating a lot of carbs might make your body hold onto more salt, which could raise your blood pressure.
When healthy guys eat more carbs for a few days, their bodies hold onto more salt at first, but this doesn’t last past the first week.
When healthy guys eat a diet high in carbs for a couple of weeks, their bodies initially hold onto more salt—but by week two, a key hormone that controls salt goes down, which might help stop blood pressure from rising.
Eating a lot of carbs for two weeks doesn’t raise blood pressure in healthy guys, even though it changes how their bodies handle salt.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.