The Salt Fix

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But Doesn t Salt Cause High Blood Pressure?

For more than forty years, our doctors, the government, and the nation s leading health associations have told us that consuming salt increases blood pressure and thus causes chronic high blood pressure.

Here s the truth: there was never any sound scientific evidence to support this idea. Even back in 1977, when the government s Dietary Goals for the United States recommended that Americans restrict their salt intake, a report from the U.S. Surgeon General admitted there was no evidence that a low-salt diet would prevent the increases in blood pressure that often occur with advancing age.1 The first systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of sodium restriction on blood pressure did not occur until 1991, and it was almost entirely based on weak, nonrandomized scientific data--but by then, we had already been telling Americans to cut their salt intake for nearly fifteen years. By that point, those white crystals had already been ingrained into the public s mind as a primary cause of high blood pressure--a message that remains today.

The advice stemmed largely from the most basic of scientific explanations: the salt blood pressure hypothesis. This hypothesis held that eating higher levels of salt leads to higher levels of blood pressure--end of story. But that wasn t the full story, of course. As with so many old medical theories, the real story was a bit more complex.

The hypothesis went like this: In the body, we measure blood pressure in two different ways. The top number of a typical blood pressure reading is your systolic blood pressure, the pressure in your arteries during contraction of your heart. The bottom number is your diastolic blood pressure, the pressure in your arteries when your heart is relaxed. When we eat salt, so the theory goes, we also get thirsty--so we drink more water. In the salt high blood pressure hypothesis, that excess salt then causes

James J. DiNcolantonio, Pharm. D., is a cardiovascular research scientist and doctor of pharmacy at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Missouri. A well-respected and internationally known scientist, and expert on health and nutrition, he has contributed extensively to health policy and has even testified in front of the Canadian Senate regarding the harms of added sugars. He serves as the Associate Editor of British Medical Journal's (BMJ) Open Heart, a journal published in partnership with the British Cardiovascular Society. He is the author or coauthor of approximately 200 publications in the medical literature. He is also on the Editorial Advisory Board of several other medical journals, including Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases and International Journal of Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology (IJCPT).

The truth about what salt is really doing to your body. The Telegraph

James DiNicolantonio shakes up a nutritional hornet s nest with The Salt Fix. . . . [A] smart and interesting account of [the ferocious scientific debate]. Michael Bader, author of More than Bread and Butter, for Alternet

DiNicolantonio s premise completely overturns the conventional wisdom about salt consumption. Take Care Broadcast

Thought-provoking, evidenced-based information for anyone interested in improving their health. Library Journal

Why we should embrace the salt shaker, not shun it. Canadian National Post

Dr. DiNicolantonio takes us away from hype and hyperbole to a place of rationality as it relates to salt. This extensively researched text lets us finally erase the guilt all of us felt when catering to our desire for this important mineral. David Perlmutter, MD, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Grain Brain and The Grain Brain Whole Life Plan

Dr. James DiNicolantonio shatters the age-old myth that salt is a cause of heart disease. He also makes excellent recommendations for a heart-healthy diet that your tastebuds will really enjoy! If you want to learn how to make food taste great again, discover tips to improve your heart health, and be enlightened about the truth about salt, you ve got to check out this book! Dr. Josh Axe, author of Eat Dirt, founder of DrAxe online

For decades, doctors and mainstream medicine have recommended that you lower your salt intake, but in this well-researched and surprising book, Dr. DiNicolantonio explains why this seemingly well-informed advice is, in fact, wrong.  The Salt Fix provides the advice and the program you need to add back the salt and in the process improve your health and your waistline. Robb Wolf, New York Times bestselling author of The Paleo Solution and Wired to Eat

The medical profession has done a