General Health
Lowering dietary salt intake may relieve asthma
By Ben Wasserman - foodconsumer.org
Jan 5, 2007 - 2:56:55 PM

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Lowering dietary salt intake may reduce asthma severity and make breathing easier for adults with the condition, researchers say.

Timothy Mickleborough from Indiana University and Andrew Fogarty from the University of Nottingham came to the conclusion that increased salt intake may increase the severity of asthma after analyzing data from previous epidemiological and clinical studies.

Epidemiological studies suggested that lower salt intake was associated with improved airway response. But not all studies agreed with such a hypothesis, which is hard to explain, Mickleborough and Fogarty said.

"Possible explanations for the inconsistency of the data are that dietary factors may have a different effect in children and young adults, as the age of the individual is an important factor in determining the sensitivity to sodium," the reviewers were quoted by nutraingredients.com as saying. "Alternatively, dietary sodium may not have an effect on asthma in the general population."

"Collectively, the studies to date investigating the potential relationship between dietary sodium and the severity of asthma or airway hyper-responsiveness have provided support for the hypothesis that increased dietary intake of sodium may increase the severity of disease in those with asthma," they wrote.

High intake of salt has been linked with high blood pressure and heart disease.  Some experts estimated that up to 150,000 Americans die from high intake of salt each year.

Salt consumption in the U.S can be up to 12 grams a day for some individuals. The current recommended daily allowance is 2.4 grams of sodium per day.   Some experts say one gram of salt a day will be just fine.