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Hypertension

Salt: flawed research should not divert actions to reduce intake

A recent study suggests that salt reduction should be confined to hypertensive individuals with high salt intake. However, this study has serious methodological issues and its findings should therefore not challenge the strong evidence supporting the benefits of salt reduction for the general population.

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Figure 1: Changes in salt intake (measured by 24 h urinary sodium (UNa) excretion), blood pressure, stroke and ischaemic heart disease (IHD) mortality in England, from 2003 to 2011.

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Correspondence to Feng J. He.

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Competing interests

F.J.H is a member of Consensus Action on Salt & Health (CASH) and World Action on Salt & Health (WASH). Both CASH and WASH are non-profit charitable organisations. F.J.H does not receive any financial support from CASH or WASH. G.A.M is Chairman of Blood Pressure UK (BPUK), also a non-profit charitable organization, Chairman of CASH and Chairman of WASH. G.A.M does not receive any financial support from any of these organisations.

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He, F., MacGregor, G. Salt: flawed research should not divert actions to reduce intake. Nat Rev Nephrol 12, 514–515 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneph.2016.97

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