In a series of papers we published over the past decade, we explored a question that seemed to us interesting: Why were there dramatically different schools of scientific thought about whether reducing population-level salt intake would result in fewer cardiovascular complications?
The science has long been settled that for people with high blood pressure, salt reduction can be part of the risk reduction armamentarium. However, two competing National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine reports came to rather different conclusions, highlighting the lack of consensus in the field about the utility of reducing salt for everyone. While one report noted that this was an open question for decades, the other report said that “For 40 years we have known about the relationship between sodium and the development of…life threatening diseases.” This leaves consumers confused and policymakers without direction.
Read more here.