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The 2010 DGA report went out of its way to make special
recommendations for African Americans (and also people who
have high blood pressure, diabetes, or kidney disease).
African Americans should try to keep sodium consumption at
less than 1,500 mg per day.
Why did the federal report single out African Americans? It
turns out that a large proportion of African Americans can
absorb sodium very effectively from food. This means that if
you give the same amount of salt to an African-American
person and to a non-African-American person, the African
American will end up with more sodium in her blood and less
in her urine than the non-African American.
How does sodium sensitivity increase the risk of high blood
pressure? The kidneys of a sodium-sensitive person absorb
more sodium into the blood than the kidneys of a
sodium-resistant person. Wherever sodium goes, water
follows. So if there is a lot of sodium in a
sodium-sensitive person’s blood, that person will retain
more water in her blood.
As the amount of water in the blood increases, the heart has
to work harder to pump that blood around the body. This is
what leads to higher blood pressure in people who consume
high amounts of salt or who are sensitive to sodium.
There are agencies and special interest groups who would
like to convince us that salt is not that bad. I recently
visited the website of an institute that promotes the
increased use of salt in the American Diet. The site laid
out in great detail all the purported benefits of consuming
sodium.
However on deeper inspection of their sources, I found
flagrant examples of misreporting or distortion of
scientific data. For example, the site indicated that people
who eat less sodium have a much higher risk of death from
cardiovascular disease. In reality, the study did not even
measure sodium intake: it measured urinary sodium excretion.
Urinary sodium excretion has been used as an indicator of
dietary sodium intake, but it is an unreliable measure for
people who are sodium-sensitive.
What is even more flagrant is that the study actually found
that people who excreted BOTH high and low levels of sodium
in their urine were found to be at greater risk of
cardiovascular death. The website promoting salt never
mentioned that people who excrete high levels of salt are at
higher risk.
We don’t eat sodium: we eat foods, some of which contain
higher amounts of sodium than others. I recommend trying to
choose foods that naturally contain lower levels of sodium
if that is an option for you. These include fresh produce,
lean and unprocessed meats, and reduced-sodium canned foods
such as soups and vegetables.
The majority of sodium intake in the traditional American
diet comes from eating processed foods such as fast food,
frozen dinners, breads, processed meats like bologna and
salami, and dairy products such as yogurt and cheese. The
sodium in these foods is added before we ever see them, so
be careful to look at the nutrition labels of these foods.
The recommended daily allowance of sodium for most people is
2,300 mg per day, but for African Americans of all ages, it
is important to keep sodium consumption at less than 1,500
mg per day. Multiply the percent of recommended daily
allowance next to sodium on the nutrition label by 1.5 to
get a customized RDA for African Americans.
By keeping our sodium levels low, we can go a long way
towards protecting our hearts and our health.
Ed. Note: Keon Pearson, 2011 St. Francis de Sales High
School graduate and class valedictorian, earned an
undergraduate degree from Harvard College this past June and
is currently a first-year medical student at Stanford
University
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