Blood Pressure And Your Health

Salt away this wisdom: just say no

Researchers suggest that restricting the amount of salt in the diet seems to help reduce bone loss in women past the age of menopause. To test this theory, 59 women who were past the age of menopause agreed to lower their dietary salt intake for one week to determine whether their salt intake affected their bone loss. Bone loss usually occurs when the body does not get enough dietary calcium to maintain the proper level of calcium in the bones.



When this happens, it pulls calcium out of the bones, leaving the bones brittle and breakable. Calcium can also be pulled out of the bones when there is too much salt in the body. The body flushes this "pulled out" calcium through the urine. Scientists can measure the amount of bone loss by measuring the amount of calcium in the urine of women at risk for osteoporosis. Since urinary calcium is related to the amount of sodium in the urine, researchers attempted to lower calcium loss by lowering the sodium loss. To do that, the researchers cut back on salt. The women gave urine samples before and after one week of reduced salt intake.



Scientists found that the amount of calcium in the urine was greatly reduced after a week of restricted salt intake only in the women who started out with a high level of sodium in their urine.Those women who maintained low-sodium diets before the study did not produce significantly lower levels of urinary calcium after the study. However, scientists speculate that one out of every four women past the age of menopause maintain a sodium intake high enough to put them at risk for increased bone loss. That means that one out of every four women past the age of menopause would benefit from a low-salt diet. Although there is no known cure for the crippling bone loss of osteoporosis, a low-salt diet might turn out to be one of the best ways to prevent it.



Are fluoride side effects worth the health benefits?

Some studies have shown that taking fluoride supplements along with calcium supplements can help reduce the number of hip fractures in women and men who suffer from osteoporosis. But are the side effects of the fluoride supplements worth the benefits? Fluoride treatments aren’t worth it if the dosages are too high.



People who take between 50 and 74 milligrams of fluoride daily usually suffer from side effects such as discomfort and pain in the digestive tract, pain in the hips and legs, and bone fractures. Those who take under 50 milligrams daily have few side effects. So if your fluoride tablets are a problem, ask your doctor to check the dosage. A lower dosage could eliminate the side effects and still give you the protection from bone fractures that you need.



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