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International Journal of Epidemiology 2002;31:327-331
© International Epidemiological Association 2002

Point-Counterpoint

Commentary: Salt intake, hypertension and risk of cardiovascular disease: an important public health challenge

Jiang He and Paul K Whelton

Tulane University, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA.

Jiang He, Department of Epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1430 Tulane Avenue, SL 18, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA. E-mail: jhe@tulane.edu

Accepted 22 November 2001

‘Hence if too much salt is used for food, the pulse hardens ...’

Huang Ti Nei Ching Su Wen, 2698–2598 BC (the Yellow Emperor's classic on internal medicine).

Although ancient Chinese medical literature—the Yellow Emperor's classic on internal medicine—reported that a high intake of dietary salt (sodium chloride) might produce a hardened pulse nearly 5000 years ago, the first meaningful scientific evidence for a positive association between salt consumption and level of blood pressure was published by Dahl in 1960.1 Dahl described a remarkable linear relationship between average sodium intake and prevalence of hypertension across five population groups.1 Since then, abundant evidence of a causal association between dietary sodium intake and high blood pressure has emerged from animal experiments and from observational epidemiological studies and randomized controlled clinical trials.2,3

Animal Experiments

Studies in a variety of laboratory animals have demonstrated that a high dietary intake of salt results in hypertension.4 Recently, Denton . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Observational Epidemiological Studies

Randomized Controlled Trials

Sodium Sensitivity

Salt Intake and the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

Public Health Implications of Reducing Dietary Salt

Conclusion

References


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