Can Too Much Salt Damage Blood Vessels? Yes
Excessive salt intake can damage blood vessels, as well as raising the risk of developing hypertension (high blood pressure), a Dutch population study revealed in the journal Circulation, which belongs to the American Heart Association.
As background information, the authors explained that in people with normal blood pressure, a diet high in salt has virtually no acute effect on blood pressure. However, for reasons which are not fully understood, high sodium (salt) intake over the long-term can lead to hypertension. The researchers, from Harvard Medical School, USA, and the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, hypothesized that those with chronic high salt intakes should have higher levels of serum uric acid and urine albumin excretion; they also hypothesized that for those with these biomarkers of endothelial dysfunction, there would be a higher rate of hypertension.
John P. Forman and team monitored the sodium (salt) intake of 5,556 Dutch adult males and females.
They found that individuals with a high, long-term sodium intake tended to have greater uric acid and albumin levels – both of which are known markers of blood vessel damage.
They detected a close correlation between the risk of developing hypertension and levels of albumin and uric acid.
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