Salt. Tiny white granules of flavor. Used in ancient times as a preservative of food. So prized by the Romans that they paid part of their soldiers’ wages in salt (the word salary comes from salarium = payment of salt). Nowadays, salt is so easily obtained and plentiful, it appears on every table.

Salt is the most common flavor enhancer in the modern western diet. But is it good for you? How much is too much?

Some salt consumption is absolutely essential in humans. Salt is an electrolyte and basically acts as a conductor for electrical processes in the body. Salt also regulates the body’s water content. Disturbances in the electrolyte balance can lead to cardiac and neurological problems.

Studies published recently state there is an undeniable correlation between salt consumption and risk of death from coronary disease and stroke. But studies published just a year ago, state the opposite - that lowering salt intake seemed to increase risk of death from cardiovascular disease.

From the researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine - February 2006:

The researchers concluded that people who reported restricting daily salt intake to less than 2,300 milligrams a day were significantly more likely to have died from cardiovascular causes than people who ate more salt, even after adjusting for total calorie intake, age, smoking status, and other known risk factors for heart disease.

From a study led by Nancy Cook of Harvard Medical School - April 2007:

The findings, from a 15-year study, offer the clearest evidence yet that cutting salt consumption saves lives by reducing the risks of cardiovascular disease. People who ate less salty food were found to have a 25 per cent lower risk of cardiac arrest or stroke, and a 20 per cent lower risk of premature death. The results, published in the British Medical Journal, underline the need for population-wide salt reductions in the diet, the scientists conclude.

Who’s right?

I don’t know - do I have a 37% higher chance of dying or a 25% less chance of dying?

The second study, related only to individuals who already had high blood pressure. It is not even known for sure how salt increases blood pressure. Contrasting the two diametrically opposed studies, some researchers have come to the conclusion that salt affects different people differently.

To be safe, I will keep my eye on how quickly the salt shaker empties and needs refilling.

Scientists prove that salty diet costs lives

Low Salt Diet May Not Cut Heart Risk

And then there are the stories that just lead you to the conclusion that there are people with too much time on their hands.

Researchers at the Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation in Wisconsin have concluded that obesity rates increase in cities where the newspapers publish high-calorie dessert recipes.

Assuming that some percentage of the readers of any particular newspaper like to bake and that of those, a percentage may try the recipe for that luscious fat and calorie-ridden dessert, we must then calculate how many people that baker is likely to serve this treat to. Six? Seven? Eight at most, I should think. Assume then that this dessert is a big hit and friends and family insist that the baker must prepare this treat again, thus it begins to show up at company parties and family functions and holidays. That would be how often, three or four times a year? Does something you eat four times a year make you obese?

The report notes that the news media play an important role in providing nutrition information, but with respect to recipes, “this information is seldom studied.”

Maybe there’s a good reason for that.

It’s very satisfying to be able to occasionally report on the good news about chocolate. In addition to just tasting good and elevating mood, studies keep showing it provides health benefits by being rich in antioxidants and phenols.

A report in the April 9 issue of JAMA highlights a meta-analysis of previously published trials involving cocoa products and tea. Both cocoa and tea contain polyphenols, which are known to have beneficial effects on cardiovascular health and blood pressure.

Based on the results of these trials - five involving cocoa products and five involving tea consumption - researchers at the University Hospital of Cologne, Germany, concluded that cocoa products, especially dark chocolate, lowered blood pressure levels comparably to blood pressure medication.
Consumption of tea had no effect on blood pressure.

Researchers conclude that it is a difference in the types of phenols contained in the two products that leads to the varying effectiveness - black and green tea contain more compounds known as flavan-3-ols, cocoa contains more of another type of polyphenol, procyanids.

They aren’t recommending widespread consumption of cocoa products to lower blood pressure, mainly because those foods usually also contain high amounts of fat and sugar. Still, dark chocolate is recommended as a better choice than other high-fat or high-calorie desserts.

“Rationally applied, cocoa products might be considered part of dietary approaches to lower hypertension risk”, the authors conclude.

Cocoa, But Not Tea, May Lower Blood Pressure

2007 may be the year of vindication for fat people.

First a study at UCLA declares that diets don’t work and what is worse, are actually harmful to your health.

Now scientists announce they have discovered a “fat” gene which explains why two people leading similar lifestyles could have disparate amounts of weight. Talk to any overweight person and they will tell you they know of thin people who eat as much or more than they do and yet stay thin. Society has always chalked this up to overweight meaning lazy, but now the evidence says that is not the case.

The scientists discovered the gene, known as FTO and say the influence on the gene in weight depends on whether a person has one or two copies of the FTO gene variant. FTO is known to play a role in the hypothalamus which regulates appetite.

16% of the population have two copies of the high-risk gene, and weigh nearly 7 pounds more than those without it. Those with only one copy were found to weigh about 2.6 pounds more than those who did not have the gene variant at all.

Research into the gene variant and its effects may lead scientists one day to discover better treatments and methods for dealing with obesity.

For overweight people everywhere, it may relieve some of the guilt to know that what is in their jeans, may be in their genes.

A Common Variant in the FTO Gene Is Associated with Body Mass Index and Predisposes to Childhood and Adult Obesity