Salt Intake Linked to Subclinical Cardiovascular Disease

An intake of dietary sodium exceeding 3.7 g/day is associated with subclinical cardiac remodeling and dysfunction, according to a recent study.

The effects of sodium intake, and optimal levels of sodium consumption, are controversial. In a recent study, researchers examined whether measures of left ventricular longitudinal strain , circumferential strain, and e′ velocity could shed light on the effects of various levels of sodium intake.
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The researchers used speckle-tracking analysis on 2996 echocardiograms with available urinary sodium data from the Hypertension Genetic Epidemiology Network (HyperGEN) study. The median estimated sodium intake (ESI) was 3.73 g/day, and ESI >3.7 g/day was associated with  left ventricular longitudinal strain , circumferential strain, and e′ velocity, while ESI of 3.7 g/day or less was not.

Only 14% and 20% of the indirect effects between ESI and longitudinal strain and e′ velocity, respectively, was explained by systolic blood pressure.

The researchers concluded that their data may offer insight into the mechanisms behind sodium’s effects on cardiovascular outcomes, and could affect dietary guidelines, hypertension management, and hypertension clinical trials.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Selvaraj S, Djousse L, Aguilar FG, et al. Association of estimated sodium intake with adverse cardiac structure and function. JACC. 2017;70(6):715-724.