Salt ‘can damage organs even without high blood pressure’

A new study has illustrated that excess salt can be damaging to the health of internal organs, even when the person in question is not affected by high blood pressure.

Researchers from the University of Delaware College of Health Sciences and Christiana Care Health System have published a paper indicating that even in the absence of an increase in blood pressure, excess dietary sodium can adversely affect organs such as the blood vessels, heart, kidneys and brain.

Potential effects on the arteries include reduced function of the endothelium – the inner lining of blood vessels – while reducing renal function even when only a minimal increase in blood pressure is observed.

Sodium may also affect the sympathetic nervous system, which activates the fight-or-flight response, according to the paper.

Claudine Jurkovitz, a nephrologist epidemiologist and senior scientist in the Value Institute Center for Outcomes Research at Christiana Care, said: "A large body of evidence confirms the biological plausibility of the association between high sodium intake and increases in blood pressure and cardiovascular events."