High Salt Levels Lead to Double Stress, Study Reveals

Salt is already a product under debate. It improves the taste, life, and look of many things other than food. However, its high dosage brings cardiovascular and renal trouble. The trouble is with processed packaged foods, the salt is hidden. As people consume that and other foods their intake quadruples without them knowing about it.

Researchers have been studying the effect of salt on stress levels and found out that a high-salt diet led to increases in hormones that manage the stress response of our body.

Matthew Bailey, Ph.D., lead author of the study told a publication, “We are what we eat, and understanding how high-salt food changes our mental health is an important step to improving well-being. We know that eating too much salt damages our hearts, blood vessels, and kidneys. This study now tells us that high salt in our food also changes the way our brain handles stress.”

The research team hopes that people and organizations as well as food companies will notice this study to rearrange the salt added to foods. 

Dr. Bailey and his team tested the sodium increase on mice for up to weeks and the study showed, “functional evidence of a novel, direct connection between dietary salt intake and HPA axis activation.”