High salt intake may not raise blood pressure in teens

High salt consumption appears to have no injurious effect on blood pressure in adolescent girls, a new US study has claimed.

The research also found that girls who ingested 2,400 mg per day or more of potassium had lower blood pressure at the end of adolescence.

The scientific association has historically trusted most people in the US consume too much salt in their diets.

The current Dietary Guidelines for Americans advise limiting sodium intake to less than 2,300 mg per day for healthy individuals between the ages of 2 and 50.

However, in the new research eating 3,000 mg per day of salt or more appeared to have no adverse effect on blood pressure in adolescent girls.

Lynn L Moore from the Boston University School of Medicine, and coauthors examined the long-term effects of dietary sodium and potassium on blood pressure at the end of adolescence.

The authors used facts from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s Growth and Health Study and participants included 2,185 black and white girls (ages 9 to 10) who were followed up for 10 years.

The authors found no proof that higher sodium intakes had an adverse effect on adolescent blood pressure.

Some evaluation showed that those girls consuming 3,500 mg per day or more of salt had generally lower diastolic blood pressures than girls who consumed less than 2,500 mg per day.