Salt Intake: Hypertension, Genetics & Public Health

Genomics|Update|Current

Salt Intake: Hypertension, Genetics & Public Health

CDC information: Most Americans should consume less sodium

Institute of Medicine: Studies support population-based efforts to lower excessive dietary sodium intakes,  but raise questions about potential harm from too little salt intake (2013)

CDC information: Having a family history of high blood pressure, including parents or close relatives with high blood pressure, may increase the likelihood that you or your children develop it also. While you can’t control your family history, making healthy lifestyle choices may decrease your risk.

High blood pressure runs in families. Collect and act on your family history  [PDF 94.84 KB]

Did you know? More than 4000 publications have reported since 2001 on the relation between genetic variation and risk and outcomes of hypertension? These include 104 genomewide association studies. To find out more, visit the HuGE Navigator

Genetics of salt-sensitive hypertension. 
Sanada H et al. Curr Hypertens Rep.  2011 Feb;13(1):55-66. 

Recent insights

Association of urinary sodium and potassium excretion with blood pressure 
A. Mente et al. New England Journal Medicine, August 14, 2014.

Urinary sodium and potassium excretion, mortality, and cardiovascular events. 
Martin O'Donnell et al. NEJM, August 14, 2014 

Global sodium consumption and death from cardiovascular causes. 
Dariush Mozaffarian et al. NEJM, August 14, 2014

A salty subject: Sodium consumption and cardiovascular health, Rena Xu, NEJM Blog, Aug 13

What do we know about salt and cardiovascular disease? Current guidelines and statistics are summarized in a short animation. NEJM Quick Take, August 14, 2014