High sodium diets are frequently pegged as the culprit for people who have high blood pressure. But does excess salt cause other problems as well?
In studies from 3 different universities, researchers set out to see if there was any relationship between salty, processed diets and the occurrence of autoimmune diseases like arthritis, but what set them on the path to begin with was a surprise finding.
In a study out of Yale School of Medicine looking at people with autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, researchers stumbled upon the finding that people who frequented fast food restaurants and ate a lot of processed foods had higher rates of autoimmune diseases.
This got them looking at diet as a key factor in not only risk, but cause-effect relationships with inflammatory foods.
Studies out of the Broad Institute and Harvard worked on similar research, finding that high amounts of salt may overstimulate receptors that are responsible for regulating how the immune system functions.
The studies showed that overloading on salty, processed foods not only caused multiple sclerosis in mice, but also seemed to interfere with genes’ abilities to manage immune response.
Autoimmune diseases occur when the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks some part or system of the body. Examples are rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and lupus. Instead of just fighting foreign invaders and disease-causing microorganisms, the immune system perceives the body’s own tissues as a threat and attacks them.
Depending upon the disease, tissues attacked can be muscles, bone, connective tissue, organs, nerves or a combination of any of those. Typically, once developed, there is no cure for the disease, and only symptom management has been available.
The discoveries with how salt affects the genetic response to immunity offer new areas of research in not only prevention, but also possibly cures.
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Too much sodium can also mean not enough potassium. The balance in sea water is potassium abt 80%, sodium 20%. Or is that too simple?
The suggestion that I have run across is that individuals who have low adrenals need more salt. Since as many as half of the population has (at on time or another has low adrenal function) we may need to find out, by testing, if they have high or low adrenal function. Low salt may indeed do more harm than good.
June Russell
Like my mother always said: “too much of anything is bad”. Sodium chloride is an electrolyte salt that is as important as the other salts,( magnesium, potassium), but in the correct proportions , as the proportions that exist in ancient dry seabeds.Sodium is important in the body for the hydrochloric acid it produces., but alone it forces the cells to retail fluids, hence “high blood pressure”I only consume “sea salt”which has the correct proportions of electrolyte salts. Eating too many processed foods will cause an acid/alkaline imbalance ( too acid) , and disease will indeed ensue, which includes arthritis. Autoimmune is a term doctors are trained to use when they cant ID the cause.
The bigger problem (and much more inflammatory and immune disturbing) than salt content in fast food is the amount of Transfats and highly processed fats (canola is not the wonderful, healthful oil it’s touted to be) used to create these foods. Combine that with the high number of undiagnosed celiacs and food intolerant folks, and there is a whole lot more that needs to be looked at with fast food than simply salt content. Salt very well may turn out to be an innocent bistander, much like cholesterol and saturated fats have been with heart disease. Just sayin’ – too many variables in play to point their fingers at salt based on these studies….
Informative article. We should probably limit salt content & every American state should follow new York’s example & reduce salt usage in foods by 10%.
What salt? sodium , potassium, magnesium, calcium…etc?