Friday, December 22, 2017

Salt, Microbiota, and High Blood Pressure

A high salt diet can alter gut microbiota, which in turn induces certain immune cells that can contribute to autoimmunity leading to, among other problems, high blood pressure.  This finding provides more evidence foe the link between diet, gut microbiota, and altered human health, and also demonstrates a novel mechanism whereby a high salt diet contributed to hypertension.  Abstract:

A Western lifestyle with high salt consumption can lead to hypertension and cardiovascular disease. High salt may additionally drive autoimmunity by inducing T helper 17 (TH17) cells, which can also contribute to hypertension. Induction of TH17 cells depends on gut microbiota; however, the effect of salt on the gut microbiome is unknown. Here we show that high salt intake affects the gut microbiome in mice, particularly by depleting Lactobacillus murinus. Consequently, treatment of mice with L. murinus prevented salt-induced aggravation of actively induced experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and salt-sensitive hypertension by modulating TH17 cells. In line with these findings, a moderate high-salt challenge in a pilot study in humans reduced intestinal survival of Lactobacillus spp., increased TH17 cells and increased blood pressure. Our results connect high salt intake to the gut-immune axis and highlight the gut microbiome as a potential therapeutic target to counteract salt-sensitive conditions.

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