Health Effects Of A Low Sodium Diet

What are the health effects of a low sodium diet? Abstract conclusions:

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS:

Sodium reduction from an average high usual sodium intake level (201 mmol/day) to an average level of 66 mmol/day, which is below the recommended upper level of 100 mmol/day (5.8 g salt), resulted in a decrease in SBP/DBP of 1/0 mmHg in white participants with normotension and a decrease in SBP/DBP of 5.5/2.9 mmHg in white participants with hypertension. A few studies showed that these effects in black and Asian populations were greater. The effects on hormones and lipids were similar in people with normotension and hypertension. Renin increased 1.60 ng/mL/hour (55%); aldosterone increased 97.81 pg/mL (127%); adrenalin increased 7.55 pg/mL (14%); noradrenalin increased 63.56 pg/mL: (27%); cholesterol increased 5.59 mg/dL (2.9%); triglyceride increased 7.04 mg/dL (6.3%).

Low sodium helps decrease blood pressure but for some reason cholesterol and triglycerides were increased. More study is required.

Chickpea crackers

 I have no idea what it is like to "have a sweet tooth". I have always craved food that is salty, sour, and/or tart. Too much salt is obviously not good for you; however, how much salt is too much, seems to be under discussion. Watch the What I've Learned episode Low Sodium's link to Fat Gain & Insulin Resistance (Salt vs. Sugar).

In addition to salty, I love crunchy and spicy. So, it seems that any crackers might be the perfect fusion for my cravings. The cracker recipe below however, has the added benefit of high fiber and healthy oils and fatty acids.  The suggested spices can be changed according to your taste. For example, next time, I may entirely skip the salt and add turmeric and black pepper instead.

It took me less than five minutes to mix all ingredients and another 20-25 minutes to bake the crackers. After that, I had a very crunchy time!

Ingredients
1 can (15 oz) chickpeas, drained
1 tsp salt, 1 tsp (or less) cayenne pepper, a pinch of paprika
1 1/2 cup oatmeal
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup pumpkin seeds
3 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs ground flax seed (you can alter this amount)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375° F. Mash the chickpeas (with a fork or hand masher), add the salt, cayenne pepper, and paprika (or any other spices of your choice). Add the olive oil and the two cups of seeds.  Mix the ground flax seed and oatmeal with 1/3 cup warm water. Combine all ingredients by hand. Press the mixture onto an oiled cookie sheet, spread on the entire surface as thin as you can (wetting your hands to press down may help). Bake for 25 minutes. Cut into squares when still warm.

Do you like this recipe? Here and here are two more cracker recipes.

The Taste Of Fats

There does not seem to be a significant genetic component to fat taste sensitivity in humans; abstract:

BACKGROUND:

Individuals with impaired fat taste (FT) sensitivity have reduced satiety responses after consuming fatty foods, leading to increased dietary fat intake. Habitual consumption of dietary fat may modulate sensitivity to FT, with high consumption decreasing sensitivity [increasing fatty acid taste threshold (FATT)] and low consumption increasing sensitivity (decreasing FATT). However, some individuals may be less susceptible to diet-mediated changes in FATT due to variations in gene expression.

OBJECTIVE:

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of an 8-wk low-fat or high-fat diet on FATT while maintaining baseline weight (<2.0 kg variation) to assess heritability and to explore the effect of genetics on diet-mediated changes in FATT.

DESIGN:

A co-twin randomized controlled trial including 44 pairs (mean ± SD age: 43.7 ± 15.4 y; 34 monozygotic, 10 dizygotic; 33 women, 10 men, 1 gender-discordant) was conducted. Twins within a pair were randomly allocated to an 8-wk low-fat (<20% of energy from fat) or high-fat (>35% of energy from fat) diet. FATT was assessed by a 3-alternate forced choice methodology and transformed to an ordinal scale (FT rank) at baseline and at 4 and 8 wk. Linear mixed models were fit to assess diet effect on FT rank and diet effect modification due to zygosity. A variance components model was fit to calculate baseline heritability.

RESULTS:

There was a significant time × diet interaction for FT rank after the 8-wk trial (P < 0.001), with the same conclusions for the subset of participants maintaining baseline weight (low-fat; n = 32; high-fat: n = 35). There was no evidence of zygosity effect modification (interaction of time × diet × zygosity: P = 0.892). Heritability of baseline FT rank was 8%.

CONCLUSIONS:

There appears to be little to no genetic contribution on heritability of FATT or diet-mediated changes to FATT. Rather, environment, specifically dietary fat intake, is the main influencer of FT sensitivity, regardless of body weight. This trial was registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry at http://www.anzctr.org.au/ as ACTRN12613000466741.

Related: salt promotes passive overconsumption of dietary fat in humans.

Take home point: eating more salt and fat will likely lead to even more fat consumption.

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.

Addictive Foods?

A study has investigated which types of food are most addictive. The results are not surprising:

For the first time, a team of researchers looked at exactly which types of foods could be the most addictive. They asked a group of 120 undergraduates at the University of Michigan, and another group of nearly 400 adults, about 35 different types of food -- from pizza to broccoli -- and whether they think they could have problems controlling how much they ate of each one. Eighteen of the items were processed foods, meaning they contained added sugars and fats.
 
Topping the list were pizza, chocolate, chips, cookies, ice cream, French fries, cake and soda, all considered processed foods. They were followed by cheese and bacon -- both unprocessed foods, but high in fat and salt.
 
The researchers found that the most problematic foods tended to be those with a high glycemic load, meaning they contained a lot of sugar and caused a spike in blood sugar. The authors wrote that these qualities could make foods more difficult to stop eating in a similar way as drugs that are highly concentrated and rapidly absorbed into the body are more addictive.
 
The researchers also found that, among the adults in their study, those with a high BMI and those who were at risk of having any kind of food addiction were most likely to have difficulty controlling themselves around a particular food item.
Note that this article considers bacon to be an “unprocessed food” defining such as having “added sugars and fats” while bacon is typically considered to be a processed food.
The take home message is that foods that are less healthy choices are those which are most addictive, and those two characteristics are linked. Sugar, fat, and salt promote cravings, and at the same time, these components have the worst nutritional profile. Further, those most at risk for food-related health problems, such as individuals with a high BMI, are more likely to have problems with food addiction.

It is important to try to break the vicious cycle of eating these foods, craving more, and eating more. In theory, if you have never eaten these foods, and avoid being exposed to them, you won’t develop the addiction. This is unrealistic since almost all of us, myself included, have consumed these foods many times at one point or another in our lives. So, you need to make a conscious decision to resist: avoid eating out, do not buy these items, and eat healthier at home. The good news is that with time, your tastes will adapt. After ditching foods like Pop Tarts for fresh fruit, I have found that the fruit tastes sweeter to me than it did before, when I was routinely exposed to high-sugar, highly processed food.
It is important not to be obsessed with food, not to use food as some sort of “comfort” or “drug” in response to stressors and problems. Certainly, you should enjoy what you eat, and once you adjust to a healthier diet, you will find out that you enjoy the healthy foods more, and the types of foods you ate in the past taste “too rich.” So, yes, healthy food can and should be palatable. However, do not make food a focus of your life, so that avoiding unhealthy and addictive foods would not feel like a sacrifice. Once you have a healthy food regimen in place, you could have “cheat meals” infrequently – the occasional slice of pizza, a piece of chocolate, or a Pop Tart, or even that dreaded slice of bacon.
Actionable
You need to make the commitment that your relationship with food will change. The primary function of food is to be fuel for your body and to improve your health. Food consumption cannot be a major focus in your life, food cannot be a drug to distract you from life’s problems.