Limiting salt could be deadly for heart failure patients: study

Talk about throwing salt in the wound.

People suffering from heart failure — a condition that affects 6 million American adults — who restrict their sodium intake may be increasing their risk of death, according to a new study presented Thursday.

Consuming too much salt has been linked to high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke, leading the Food and Drug Administration to advise Americans to eat no more than 2.3 grams of sodium per day. A US adult typically consumes 3.4 grams daily.

Researchers at the Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha have found that too little salt can actually put heart failure sufferers at greater risk — great news for those patients who want to spice up their food.

“Our findings showed that restricting dietary sodium to less than the usual recommendation was counterproductive in the management of heart failure,” Dr. Anirudh Palicherla, the study’s lead author and an internal medicine resident at the university, said in a statement.

Researchers analyzed nine randomized controlled trials that occurred between 2008 and 2022 — save for one that was published in 1991 — along with sodium intake data and information about patient deaths and hospitalizations.

In total, nearly 3,500 heart failure patients were included in the study, which was presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session Together With the World Congress of Cardiology.

The scientists determined that patients whose sodium intake fell below 2.5 grams per day were 80% more likely to die than those who consumed more, leading researchers to believe over-restricting has no benefits for these patients.

But researchers caution the study’s findings don’t warrant a salt free-for-all.

“Limiting sodium is still the way to go to help manage heart failure, but the amount of restriction has been up for debate,” Palicherla added. “This study shows that the focus should be on establishing a safe level of sodium consumption instead of overly restricting sodium.”

Their conclusions do, however, support previous claims that salt is not the enemy.

Dr. James DiNicolantonio, a cardiovascular researcher and author of “The Salt Fix,” previously told The Post that adults could actually consume 6 grams of salt a day without adverse health effects.

“We’re starting to understand that we probably had it wrong about salt 40 years ago,” he said in 2017, arguing that, actually, salt is the “gateway to eating healthy.”

A 2016 study drew similar conclusions. NYC researchers said they found no definitive proof that cutting salt intake reduces the risk of heart attacks or strokes — that is, for people in perfect health. But the NYC Health Department begged to disagree, arguing that salt limitations and advisories have conclusive evidence to back them up.

In 2021, the FDA called on the food industry to reduce the amount of sodium in their products, hoping it would slash the number of heart-related fatalities. As it stands, heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US, with 695,547 lives claimed in 2021 alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Experts recommend limiting sodium intake by eating fresh fruits and vegetables and avoiding processed, boxed and canned foods.