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Sodium Intake and Target Organ Damage in Hypertension—An Update about the Role of a Real Villain

Salt intake is too high for safety nowadays. The main active ion in salt is sodium. The vast majority of scientific evidence points out the importance of sodium restriction for decreasing cardiovascular risk. International Guidelines recommend a large reduction in sodium consumption to help reduce b...

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Autores principales: Nista, Federica, Gatto, Federico, Albertelli, Manuela, Musso, Natale
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7215960/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32325839
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17082811
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author Nista, Federica
Gatto, Federico
Albertelli, Manuela
Musso, Natale
author_facet Nista, Federica
Gatto, Federico
Albertelli, Manuela
Musso, Natale
author_sort Nista, Federica
collection PubMed
description Salt intake is too high for safety nowadays. The main active ion in salt is sodium. The vast majority of scientific evidence points out the importance of sodium restriction for decreasing cardiovascular risk. International Guidelines recommend a large reduction in sodium consumption to help reduce blood pressure, organ damage, and cardiovascular risk. Regulatory authorities across the globe suggest a general restriction of sodium intake to prevent cardiovascular diseases. In spite of this seemingly unanimous consensus, some researchers claim to have evidence of the unhealthy effects of a reduction of sodium intake, and have data to support their claims. Evidence is against dissenting scientists, because prospective, observational, and basic research studies indicate that sodium is the real villain: actual sodium consumption around the globe is far higher than the safe range. Sodium intake is directly related to increased blood pressure, and independently to the enlargement of cardiac mass, with a possible independent role in inducing left ventricular hypertrophy. This may represent the basis of myocardial ischemia, congestive heart failure, and cardiac mortality. Although debated, a high sodium intake may induce initial renal damage and progression in both hypertensive and normotensive subjects. Conversely, there is general agreement about the adverse role of sodium in cerebrovascular disease. These factors point to the possible main role of sodium intake in target organ damage and cardiovascular events including mortality. This review will endeavor to outline the existing evidence.
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spelling pubmed-72159602020-05-22 Sodium Intake and Target Organ Damage in Hypertension—An Update about the Role of a Real Villain Nista, Federica Gatto, Federico Albertelli, Manuela Musso, Natale Int J Environ Res Public Health Review Salt intake is too high for safety nowadays. The main active ion in salt is sodium. The vast majority of scientific evidence points out the importance of sodium restriction for decreasing cardiovascular risk. International Guidelines recommend a large reduction in sodium consumption to help reduce blood pressure, organ damage, and cardiovascular risk. Regulatory authorities across the globe suggest a general restriction of sodium intake to prevent cardiovascular diseases. In spite of this seemingly unanimous consensus, some researchers claim to have evidence of the unhealthy effects of a reduction of sodium intake, and have data to support their claims. Evidence is against dissenting scientists, because prospective, observational, and basic research studies indicate that sodium is the real villain: actual sodium consumption around the globe is far higher than the safe range. Sodium intake is directly related to increased blood pressure, and independently to the enlargement of cardiac mass, with a possible independent role in inducing left ventricular hypertrophy. This may represent the basis of myocardial ischemia, congestive heart failure, and cardiac mortality. Although debated, a high sodium intake may induce initial renal damage and progression in both hypertensive and normotensive subjects. Conversely, there is general agreement about the adverse role of sodium in cerebrovascular disease. These factors point to the possible main role of sodium intake in target organ damage and cardiovascular events including mortality. This review will endeavor to outline the existing evidence. MDPI 2020-04-19 2020-04 /pmc/articles/PMC7215960/ /pubmed/32325839 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17082811 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Nista, Federica
Gatto, Federico
Albertelli, Manuela
Musso, Natale
Sodium Intake and Target Organ Damage in Hypertension—An Update about the Role of a Real Villain
title Sodium Intake and Target Organ Damage in Hypertension—An Update about the Role of a Real Villain
title_full Sodium Intake and Target Organ Damage in Hypertension—An Update about the Role of a Real Villain
title_fullStr Sodium Intake and Target Organ Damage in Hypertension—An Update about the Role of a Real Villain
title_full_unstemmed Sodium Intake and Target Organ Damage in Hypertension—An Update about the Role of a Real Villain
title_short Sodium Intake and Target Organ Damage in Hypertension—An Update about the Role of a Real Villain
title_sort sodium intake and target organ damage in hypertension—an update about the role of a real villain
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7215960/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32325839
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17082811
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