Plan food-poor salt increases the risk of heart attack

Low salt intake may increase the risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke, study says
Also suggests that a high sodium intake does not increase the risk of developing high blood pressure
People with hypertension has yet receive a low salt diet.

 physicians and public health officials have been telling us for years that eat too sodium may increase the risk of heart attack or stroke by increasing the blood pressure to dangerous levels. Then how to explain a new study suggests low salt consumption has been increasing the risk to die from these causes?

The study, which followed women and men Europeans healthy Guysboro age 60 or younger for about eight years, also concluded that above-average sodium intake is not the risk of developing high blood pressure (hypertension) or dying of a heart attack or a stroke on the rise.

The results, reported in the issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association on May 4, certainly seem paradoxical, especially in the light of the current public health campaign to reduce consumption of sodium through the United States calling the restaurants and the food manufacturers to limit their use of the ingredient.

Canstar: 25 food with tons of hidden salt

In fact, said Jan a. Staessen, M.D., head of the laboratory of hypertension and the principal author of the study at the University of Louvain, Belgium, the findings "do not support the current recommendations for a reduction of widespread and indiscriminate of intake to the level of the population [sodium]."

Fans of salts should not leave their shakers immediately, though. Looking at the findings shows that they are not as out of line with the mantra of lower-sodium as they might seem.

To begin, participants, sodium consumption was evaluated by measuring the sodium content of their urine over a period of 24 hours at the start of the study. Although this method is considered the gold standard for estimating the intake of sodium, this test of urine lone cannot provide a precise portrait of the daily intake of participants in the comprehensive study of eight years, as the researchers themselves.

Canstar: The 10 best foods for your heart.

More importantly, the participants had blood pressure in the normal range at the beginning of the study and were white, relatively young and thinner on average than the typical American. However, previous research has shown that people with hypertension, black, the elderly and heavier people tend to react more negatively to sodium.

"Perhaps it would be better locate specific subgroups," says Jerome Fleg, MD, a medical officer of the division of cardiovascular sciences at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. "Is probably not the group that could get the biggest bang for the buck in terms of limiting sodium consumption."

Staessen and colleagues divided the participants in the study by third parties under their sodium intake estimated. Although higher consumption of salt was not linked to an increased risk of high blood pressure, it was associated with very low increase in systolic pressure (the top number).

Canstar: Heart problems? to avoid remedies for 30

A little more than 6% of the participants had a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular emergencies during the study, about one third of which were fatal. Those who consume the least salt had a higher risk of 56 per cent of the death of a heart attack or a stroke, compared to those who had the highest consumption, even after the control of obesity, cholesterol, smoking, diabetes and other risk factors.

Researchers do not have a firm explanation of this conclusion, but they think that intake sodium low enough to reduce blood pressure may also reduce the sensitivity to insulin, a stress response in the nervous system and affect hormones that regulate blood pressure and sodium absorption. "Each of these effects could have a negative impact on cardiovascular mortality," said Staessen.

He and his co-authors point, however, that people with hypertension - which were not included in the study - will still benefit from a low salt diet.

Canstar: Rules to live by heart health

Most Americans consume more sodium per day is considered healthy. Federal guidelines recommend limiting the consumption of 2,300 milligrams per day, or 1 500 milligrams for blacks and persons with hypertension. Health organizations have been lobbying the Federal Government to abandon the objective for all 1,500 milligrams per day, says Fleg.

Despite the shortcomings of the study, the results suggest that guidelines sodium should perhaps take account of the differences between individuals, Randal Thomas, M.D., cardiologist at the clinic in Mayo, in Rochester, Minnesota, said.

"We know that not everyone is also sensitive to sodium in their diet than others." "Even in people with high blood pressure, not more that half are probably sensitive sodium, and in the general population, it is probably less than 10 percent," Thomas said. "To establish a public policy, it is important to recognize the need for a policy that does not punish the majority in favour of the minority."

Alaska said cases of sexually transmitted diseases increases

ANCHORAGE, Alaska  - Alaska a nation the highest rate of infection chlamydia and gonorrhea rate ranked second as sexually transmitted diseases spread in rural areas, according to the Division of public health of Alaska.

A case 6,026 total bacterial disease chlamydia infection have been reported in Alaska in 2010, an increase of 13% in the previous year. The rate of 849 per 100,000 inhabitants of Alaska is more than twice the national rate of 417, said the Department.

Reported cases of gonorrhea were $ 1,273 in 2010, an increase of 23% and the counter to a national trend of reduced gonococcal infection, said the State. Rate of Alaska was 179 per 100,000 population, compared to a national rate of 99.

Rates partly reflect the demographics of Alaska, according to the program Coordinator Susan Jones, HIV and sexually transmitted diseases in the State.

"The burden of chlamydia and gonorrhea is in the young population," said Jones. "Alaska on average has a population of young compared to most States."

Diseases are also common among ethnic minorities. Rural areas of the State with the worst rates of infection were in large part of the indigenous peoples of Alaska, she said.

No treatment in a timely manner in these rural areas adds to the problem, said Jones.

The Medical Council of Alaska has recently adopted a change of rule allowing physicians to prescribe medicine for sexual partners of infected patients, even if these partners are not examined, she said.

Chlamydia infections increase nationwide, but not as dramatically as in Alaska, Jones said, because the symptoms are less alarming or noticeable to those infected.

"Probably 85 percent of people who have chlamydia will know never it," said Jones.

Even without symptoms, chlamydia can have serious consequences, including pelvic inflammatory disease leading to infertility in women, Jones, said.

"It is not a benign infection," she said.

Plan food-poor salt increases the risk of heart attack (read you that right)

Low salt intake may increase the risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke, study says
Also suggests that a high sodium intake does not increase the risk of developing high blood pressure
People with hypertension has yet receive a low salt diet.

(Canstar) - physicians and public health officials have been telling us for years that eat too sodium may increase the risk of heart attack or stroke by increasing the blood pressure to dangerous levels. Then how to explain a new study suggests low salt consumption has been increasing the risk to die from these causes?

The study, which followed women and men Europeans healthy Guysboro age 60 or younger for about eight years, also concluded that above-average sodium intake is not the risk of developing high blood pressure (hypertension) or dying of a heart attack or a stroke on the rise.

The results, reported in the issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association on May 4, certainly seem paradoxical, especially in the light of the current public health campaign to reduce consumption of sodium through the United States calling the restaurants and the food manufacturers to limit their use of the ingredient.

Canstar: 25 food with tons of hidden salt

In fact, said Jan a. Staessen, M.D., head of the laboratory of hypertension and the principal author of the study at the University of Louvain, Belgium, the findings "do not support the current recommendations for a reduction of widespread and indiscriminate of intake to the level of the population [sodium]."

Fans of salts should not leave their shakers immediately, though. Looking at the findings shows that they are not as out of line with the mantra of lower-sodium as they might seem.

To begin, participants, sodium consumption was evaluated by measuring the sodium content of their urine over a period of 24 hours at the start of the study. Although this method is considered the gold standard for estimating the intake of sodium, this test of urine lone cannot provide a precise portrait of the daily intake of participants in the comprehensive study of eight years, as the researchers themselves.

Canstar: The 10 best foods for your heart.

More importantly, the participants had blood pressure in the normal range at the beginning of the study and were white, relatively young and thinner on average than the typical American. However, previous research has shown that people with hypertension, black, the elderly and heavier people tend to react more negatively to sodium.

"Perhaps it would be better locate specific subgroups," says Jerome Fleg, MD, a medical officer of the division of cardiovascular sciences at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. "Is probably not the group that could get the biggest bang for the buck in terms of limiting sodium consumption."

Staessen and colleagues divided the participants in the study by third parties under their sodium intake estimated. Although higher consumption of salt was not linked to an increased risk of high blood pressure, it was associated with very low increase in systolic pressure (the top number).

Canstar: Heart problems? to avoid remedies for 30

A little more than 6% of the participants had a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular emergencies during the study, about one third of which were fatal. Those who consume the least salt had a higher risk of 56 per cent of the death of a heart attack or a stroke, compared to those who had the highest consumption, even after the control of obesity, cholesterol, smoking, diabetes and other risk factors.

Researchers do not have a firm explanation of this conclusion, but they think that intake sodium low enough to reduce blood pressure may also reduce the sensitivity to insulin, a stress response in the nervous system and affect hormones that regulate blood pressure and sodium absorption. "Each of these effects could have a negative impact on cardiovascular mortality," said Staessen.

He and his co-authors point, however, that people with hypertension - which were not included in the study - will still benefit from a low salt diet.

Canstar: Rules to live by heart health

Most Americans consume more sodium per day is considered healthy. Federal guidelines recommend limiting the consumption of 2,300 milligrams per day, or 1 500 milligrams for blacks and persons with hypertension. Health organizations have been lobbying the Federal Government to abandon the objective for all 1,500 milligrams per day, says Fleg.

Despite the shortcomings of the study, the results suggest that guidelines sodium should perhaps take account of the differences between individuals, Randal Thomas, M.D., cardiologist at the clinic in Mayo, in Rochester, Minnesota, said.

"We know that not everyone is also sensitive to sodium in their diet than others." "Even in people with high blood pressure, not more that half are probably sensitive sodium, and in the general population, it is probably less than 10 percent," Thomas said. "To establish a public policy, it is important to recognize the need for a policy that does not punish the majority in favour of the minority."

HIV infection increases the risk of heart failure: study (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Infection by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, might increase the risk of heart failure even in patients who have heart disease history step, a US study said.

And as of the HIV virus replicates, the risk increases, added to the study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

"Health care providers traditionally believe HIV and its treatment increases the risk of atherosclerotic heart disease," said the senior author Adreel Butt, at the school of the University of Pittsburgh, medicine in Pennsylvania.

"Surprising conclusions of our study was prior association of HIV with heart failure in the absence of coronary artery disease".

The study involved nearly 8 500 adults, with a median age of 48 in two HIV infected subjects and controls.

The HIV group was most probably also infected by the virus of hepatitis C, 31% to 11% and abuse of cocaine - 22 to 16 per cent.

They were also more likely to be smokers, but less likely to have hypertension or diabetes.

In a tracking median of 7.3 years, 286 people developed heart failure. Rate of failure heart per 1,000 person-years, adjusted by age as well as of race and ethnicity, were 7.12 for HIV patients and 4.82 for controls.

After taking account of traditional risk factors, the ratio of risk for heart failure with HIV was 1.81.

In addition, continuous replication of the virus has led to a significantly higher risk of heart failure.

"However, if the replication of HIV is well controlled, then the risk of heart failure is closer to that observed in non-HIV people," Butt said.

The exact mechanism by which HIV infection is linked to heart failure remains uncertain, but possible explanations include the direct effects of HIV infection, antiretroviral treatment leads to an increased risk of coronary heart disease and nutritional deficiencies.

"Our results indicate that HIV is played an important and independent role" Butt and his colleagues wrote.

The message for HIV care providers is clear, though.

"Be on the lookout for signs of heart failure in people infected with HIV, even if there is no history of previous coronary heart disease," Butt told Reuters Health.

"Controlling although HIV can reduce the risk of a heart attack.".