Sodium intake and diseases like high blood pressure
What it found
In people, eating less salt helps stop blood pressure rising with age, and eating too much salt is linked to high blood pressure and heart problems.
The paper also describes animal and lab work on how the body handles sodium.
What they found
Studies in people
Salt and blood pressure
Moderation in salt use prevents blood pressure from rising with age, and too much salt often raises blood pressure and contributes to hypertension. This is seen especially in overweight or obese people, diabetics, the elderly and those genetically predisposed.
Salt and heart risk
High salt consumption is linked to a higher risk of fatal or disabling cardiovascular events, and this has a big impact on health spending.
Cutting salt helps
Reducing salt intake lowers blood pressure, more so in people with hypertension, the elderly and obese people, and this lowers cardiovascular risk.
Animal and lab studies
Sodium in mice
In mice fed different amounts of sodium and potassium, a 2% KCl diet led to less MST3 expression in MST3 -/- mice than in wild-type mice. The MST3 -/- mice had higher WNK4, NKCC2-S130 phosphorylation and ENaC expression, and lower urinary sodium and potassium excretion, which was linked to higher plasma sodium and hypertension.
Kidney injury in animals
In animal models, a PGI2 analog called Beraprost sodium reduced salt-induced kidney injury by blocking inflammation and Rac1-MR activation. The authors suggest it might be useful for treating salt-induced kidney damage.
Sodium in mouse gut
In mouse small intestine, sodium absorbed by sodium-dependent glucose cotransport is recycled back into the lumen through claudin-15, driven by the negative potential from cotransport.
Other findings
Where salt comes from
At least half of the salt a person takes in comes from processed foods and food bought or eaten outside the home. So reducing salt needs the food industry to take part and shoppers to be aware of sodium in products.
What the authors conclude
“Moderation in the use of salt (sodium chloride) in food and food preparations prevents the tendency of blood pressure to increase with age, and this is documented by many studies in current literature [...].”
Also in their conclusions
- They say moderation in salt use prevents blood pressure from rising with age.
- They note that the nutritional goal for adults is no more than 2000 mg of sodium or 5 g of salt per day, following the WHO recommendation.
- They state that improving knowledge is a key step for behavior changes and call for public health interventions and educational campaigns on good nutrition practices.
How it was done
The authors wanted to gather research on how sodium works in the body and how salt intake relates to diseases, to support public health efforts to reduce salt.
The paper introduces a special issue on sodium. It describes studies in mice on sodium and potassium handling, a study in animals on a drug for salt-induced kidney injury, and a mouse study on sodium absorption in the small intestine. It also mentions reviews on sodium intake and heart failure and chronic kidney disease.
What it can’t tell you
- The animal and lab studies cannot show what happens in people.
- The paper does not report a single new study in people; it describes findings from other research.
- It cannot prove that salt directly causes heart disease or stomach cancer, only that high intake is linked to these risks.
Who paid
- Conflicts
- The authors declare no conflict of interest.
- Authors work at
- CREA-Research Centre for Food and Nutrition, Italy; University of Napoli Federico II, Italy; Federico II University of Naples, Italy
The paper
- Title
- Sodium Intake and Related Diseases
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Studies in people · animals · lab
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Lucarini M, Durazzo A, Sette S, Lombardi-Boccia G, Santini A, Strazzullo P (2021). Sodium Intake and Related Diseases. International journal of molecular sciences. doi:10.3390/ijms22147608Free full textPubMed 34299228DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error