A new study has explored how reducing sodium intake can help heart failure patients. The findings of the study were published in the journal ‘The Lancet’.
Although reducing salt intake did not lead to fewer emergency visits, hospitalizations, or death for patients with heart failure, researchers found improvements in symptoms such as swelling, fatigue and cough, as well as improved overall quality of life.
Researchers followed 806 patients in 26 medical centers in Canada, the United States, Colombia, Chile, Mexico and New Zealand. All suffered from heart failure, a condition in which the heart becomes too weak to pump blood effectively. Half of the study participants were randomly assigned to receive usual care, while the rest received nutritional counseling about reducing salt intake in their diet.
Patients in the nutrition counseling arm of the trial were given dietitian-designed menu suggestions using foods from their area and encouraged to cook at home without adding salt and avoiding high salt content . Eijkowitz notes that most dietary sodium is hidden in processed foods or restaurant meals, rather than in shakes at the table.
“A broad rule that I learned from dietitians is that anything in a bag, box, or can generally contains more salt than you think,” said Ezekowitz, who is also a member of the Mazenkowski Alberta Heart Institute for Heart Disease. There are experts too. Director of the U of A. K. Cardiovascular Research Institute. The target sodium intake was 1,500 milligrams per day — or the equivalent of about two-thirds of a teaspoon of salt — which is the Health Canada recommended limit for most Canadians whether or not they have heart failure.
Before the study, patients consumed an average of 2,217 milligrams per day, or just less than a teaspoon. After the one-year study, the usual care group consumed an average of 2,072 milligrams of sodium per day, while those receiving the nutritional guidance consumed 1,658 milligrams per day, a reduction of the equivalent of a quarter teaspoon.
Researchers compared mortality from any cause, cardiovascular hospitalization and cardiovascular emergency department visits in the two study groups but did not find a statistically significant difference.
They found consistent improvement for the low-sodium group using three different quality of life assessment tools as well as the New York Heart Association heart-failure classification, a measure of heart failure severity. Eijkowitz said he would continue to advise heart failure patients to reduce salt, but for now he would be clear about the expected benefits. He urged physicians to recognize that dietary changes may be a useful intervention for some of their patients.
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