How Much Salt Must Old People Consume?

A new study delivers fresh evidence that existing salt suggestions should be taken with, effectively, a grain of salt. Present guidelines now suggest that every person ought to have sodium consumption levels under 2300 mg per day. For many individuals at larger threat, which includes absolutely everyone more than 50 years of age, sodium consumption must be under 1500 mg/d. (The American Heart Association promotes the far more rigorous goal of 1500 mg/d for everyone.) But a 2013 report from the Institute of Medicine, along with findings from the PURE study published last yr, have raised considerations that the decrease target level in particular is neither practical nor helpful.

The new review, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, appears at the growing and crucial elderly patient population. The researchers analyzed 10-12 months followup information from 2,642 adults among 71 and 80 years of age who participated in an observational study and who had their sodium consumption assessed based mostly on a foods frequency questionnaire filled out in the 2nd 12 months. Median sodium amounts have been 2850 for guys and 2320 for ladies.

No significant relationship was located among sodium intake and mortality or the advancement of cardiovascular illness or heart failure. There were trends in favor of reasonable sodium consumption (1,500 -two,300 mg/d) compared with really minimal (&lt1,500 mg/d) or high (&gt2,300 mg/d) consumption. All round mortality was 33.8% in the extremely lower group, 30.7% in the moderate group, and 35.2% in the higher group. Related patterns had been observed for cardiovascular disease and heart failure, but at no point did these distinctions obtain statistical significance.

The authors acknowledged that their review was imperfect, mentioning the effectively-identified limitations of observational scientific studies and the use of a self-reported questionnaire to measure salt intake. But they also pointed out the limitations of the evidence base for the existing recommendations.

Thinking about the special situation of older grownups, in whom comorbidities, inadequate caloric intake, and medicine interactions are extra considerations with extremely minimal sodium intake, the result of sodium restriction need to possibly be tested explicitly in this population just before implementing a generalized recommendation for very low (&lt1500 mg/d) sodium consumption target.

Right up until “stronger proof, ideally from rigorous controlled trials,” is obtained they suggest that “a a lot more conservative method to sodium restriction (eg, targeting “&lt2300 mg/d) might be acceptable for older grownups.”

How Much Salt Must Old People Consume?