How does high Salt Intake Relate to Mortality?Low Sodium Salt Can Save many Lives

How does high Salt Intake Relate to Mortality? Is low-sodium salt really "death salt"?Sodium Chloride and Blood pressure,

For a dietary control of Salt intake, we should avoid processed foods which contain "Hidden" salt because reducing salt intake lowers Blood pressure.
Experts revealed that the people who are on LSSS(Low sodium_salt substitutes) instead of regular salt have slightly lower risk of cardiovascular events.
According to Dr Tom Frieden(aurticle published on CNN), Low-sodium salt decreased the risk of death by 12%, the risk of stroke by 14%, and total cardiovascular events (strokes and heart attacks combined) by 13%.

Interviewed experts:

Song Xin(A Nutritionist at Beijing Chaoyang Hospital)
Wang Li ( Chief Nephrologist at Harbin Medical University)

Authoritative experts interpret it like this,
Recently, On a Chinese website, a news spread that more and more patients with hyperkalemia are entering in the emergency department, the doctor asked the medical history and suspected that it was caused by long-term consumption of high potassium and low sodium salt. So,Is low-sodium salt really "death salt"? The reporter interviewed authoritative experts to answer this question.
Low-sodium salt is not "death salt" Song Xin, pointed out that low-sodium salt properly reduces the sodium content in table salt and increases the potassium content. More than 99% of ordinary table salt is sodium chloride, while the main components of high-potassium and low-sodium salt are sodium chloride accounting for about 65%, potassium chloride accounting for about 25%, and magnesium sulfate accounting for about 10%.

Potassium benefit.

Wang Li, said that potassium is an essential electrolyte for the human body. The blood potassium concentration in the human body is 3.5-5.5 mmol/L. Normal blood potassium concentration plays an important role in maintaining cardiovascular function. . But when the blood potassium concentration is higher than 5.5 mmol/L, hyperkalemia will occur, and severe cases may be life-threatening. However, only reduced renal excretion of potassium and excessive input of potassium-containing drugs can lead to hyperkalemia. Healthy people or patients with normal renal function, as long as they do not take potassium-sparing and sodium-expelling diuretics at the same time, the body will excrete excess potassium from the body, so that the potassium concentration in the body can reach normal. Therefore, it is nonsense to think that "low sodium salt is life-threatening salt". However, for people with kidney disease, such as acute and chronic renal failure, adrenal insufficiency, renal tubular acidosis, etc., the ability of the kidneys to excrete potassium is reduced, which can easily lead to hyperkalemia, so these people are not recommended to eat High potassium low sodium salt.

"Potassium-rich" diet is one of the ways to achieve "low sodium" Potassium and the familiar sodium are both friends and enemies. Potassium mainly exists in the cell, while sodium mainly distributes outside the cell. Potassium and sodium are both antagonistic and synergistic with each other, and jointly maintain normal osmotic pressure, acid-base balance, and neuromuscular excitability of cells.
Contrary to the blood pressure raising effect of sodium, potassium has a significant blood pressure lowering effect, and the blood pressure lowering effect of one "portion" of potassium can offset the blood pressure raising effect of three "portions" of sodium. For modern people whose sodium intake is generally higher than the recommended amount, this is also an important meaning of the need for a "potassium"-rich diet in life. You can rest assured that potassium will lower blood pressure only when intake of high sodium (high-salt diet) leads to high blood pressure; hypertensive patients not caused by high-sodium diet will not lower blood pressure due to potassium supplementation. For normal people, intake of potassium will not lower blood pressure.

Special reminders are needed:

*Do not take potassium-containing pharmaceutical preparations lightly, because the properties of medicines and foods are quite different.

*Excessive potassium intake is also not conducive to heart health. On the contrary, it may cause heart block, slow heartbeat, and severe cases can cause heartbeat to stop. Those who need to take the drug potassium should follow the doctor's guidance.

*Do not lack potassium in the diet Potassium is an essential mineral for the human body. Potassium deficiency may not only cause muscle weakness and arrhythmia, but also increase the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Therefore, the current recommended intake of potassium is 2000 mg/day. If chronic diseases are to be prevented, the recommended amount should be increased to 3600 mg/day. As long as the diet structure is reasonable, it is not difficult to ensure the appropriate intake of potassium, but it takes a little effort to achieve the purpose of preventing chronic diseases.
In addition to daily consumption of high-potassium and low-sodium salt, the best food sources of potassium are vegetables (especially green leafy vegetables, fungi and potatoes), fruits and beans. The average potassium content per 100 grams of beans is 600-800 mg. Among them, every 100 grams of soybeans, black beans, red beans, etc. are as high as 800 mg or more; fruits and vegetables are also "rich in potassium", such as a medium-sized potato contains nearly 1 gram of potassium, and a banana contains about 400 mg of potassium; One gram of cereal contains 100-200 mg of potassium, meat 150-300 mg, and fish 200-300 mg. Foods containing more than 800 mg of potassium per 100 grams include mushrooms, seaweed, white fungus, fungus, black beans, red beans, scallops, etc.