(Yet another) study finds no stroke benefit in lower salt diets

A Swedish-led group of European researchers set off to document the relationship between dietary electrolytes (magnesium calcium, potassium and sodium) and stroke risk.  The ended up documenting the lack of an association of sodium and risk of stroke, adding to the lengthening list of "health outcomes" studies which are remarkably consistent in their conclusion:  reducing dietary salt won't improve health.

Published in the March 10 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, the researchers studied 26,556 older Swedes; all were smokers.  Over the 13.6 years of the study, the group recorded 579 stroke events.  The population had extemely high salt intakes; the average sodium intakes for the five quintiles of sodium ranged from 3,909 mg/day to 5,848 mg/day (the U.S., by comparison averages about 3,500 mg/day -- lower than the lowest 20% of the Swedes in the study).

The findings:  stroke incidence was nearly identical in all five quintiles and not only was there no trend in the pattern, but of the 30 separate analyses performed, not a single subgroup had a significant relationship between sodium and stroke incidence.  Add this study to the list.