Study questions benefits of reducing sodium in diet?

One European study recently found that lower sodium
excretion was associated with an increased risk of heart-related deaths and
higher sodium excretion was not linked with increased risks for blood pressure
or complications from heart disease in healthy people.

The study published this week reviewed data from 167
studies that compared high-sodium diets to low-sodium diets.

Less salt did lower blood pressure in whites, blacks and
Asians who had either normal blood pressure or high blood pressure.

But this came with significant increases in levels of
cholesterol, triglycerides, the enzyme renin (involved in regulating blood
pressure) and the hormones noradrenaline and adrenaline (which can affect blood
pressure and heart rate).

It's unclear at this point if these changes would
translate, over the long run, into more heart attacks or strokes.

But the findings do raise the issue that not all salt
consumers are created equal.