There have been controversial arguments on the relationship between essential hypertension and salt intake for many years.
This literature review study have been attemped to consolidate the facts concerning the sodium intake and hypertension relationship by reviewing 241 literatures of the descriptive, analysis and experimental studies published since 1940.
The results of this literature review study summarized are as follows.
1. Animal study
1) A positive dose response relationship between blood pressure and sodium intake in aninmal experiments was established.
2) In Dahl´s animal experiment it was found that there were rats reponding differently to the salt loading, salt-sensitive and salt-resisitant strains.
2. Epidemilolgic study
1) A large scale epidemilolgical studies in many different countires demonstrated strong associations between salt intake and hypertension which suggests strongly that the high dose salt intake may be causally associated with the development of hypertension.
2) In different races, a positive correlation between the dgree civilization and salt intake, which is related to the development of essential hypertension, was reported.
3) Only a few studies did not show any correlation between salt intake and hypertension.
3. Human experimental study.
1) In the intervention studies on hospital patients, demonstrated that the rigid low salt intake was effective for the treatment of hypertension.
2) No correlation was identified blood pressure and concentration of neither serum sodium nor serum potassium.
3) In the intervention studies on hospital patients with various dose of salt loading, a positive correlation was confirmed between blood pressure and salt intake.
4) Many studies also showed a negative correlation between dietary potassium intake and hypertension, the supplementary potassium chloride had been prescribed for the hypertension patients with low salt diet.
5) Accordingly several studies on salt responses among human hypertensive made it possible to separate human beings into salt-sensitive group, suggesting genetic factor involved in susceptibility to excessive salt intake and reponsible for essential hypertension.
It was concluded from the review study that excessive salt intake plays on important role as a causative factor in development of essential hypertension, particularly for the salt sensitive people who may be genetically affected.
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