Is a low salt diet good or bad for you?

Medical experts are challenging a recent study’s methods and thus, conclusions that a low-salt diet is damaging to the heart. The recent evidence of the new study was published in the medical journal, The Lancet.

Scientists from McMaster University found that limiting sodium intake only benefited patients who currently have high blood pressure. The analysis, however, also indicated that low sodium diets may increase heart-related troubles. Researchers with the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) at the Canadian university scrubbed through more than 130,000 health records in 49 nations.

Experts focused on associations in heart disease, stroke, and deaths of people who have both normal and elevated blood pressure and found that most subjects were on a salt-restricted diet.

“While our data highlights the importance of reducing high salt intake in people with hypertension, it does not support reducing salt intake to low levels. Our findings are important because they show that lowering sodium is best targeted at those with hypertension who also consume high sodium diets,” said Andrew Mente, co-author and clinical epidemiologist at McMaster.

The study designated three study groups based on the amount of sodium in their diets. Analysts found participants with moderate sodium intake had the lowest risk of suffering health problems.

But Francesco Cappuccio, head of the Collaborating Center for Nutrition at the World Health Organization disapproved the study, as well as The Lancet for publishing the results. Urine samples were gathered in the morning for day long testing. Cappuccio argues that the mathematical methods used to conduct the observation were subpar leading an inaccurate result and that participants were unhealthy patients all on medication for ailments.