Lowering Salt Intake to Improve Health May Backfire

Lowering sodium intake, a drumbeat of doctors’ efforts to improve patient health, may have the opposite effect if taken to the extreme, scientists said.

U.S. dietary guidelines to reduce sodium intake to 1,500 milligrams a day for certain people aren’t supported by enough scientific evidence, an Institute of Medicine panel said in a report yesterday. Studies reviewed by the panel didn’t prove health outcomes improved when salt consumption was cut to that level.