Put down the salt shakers Eating too much salt and too little potassium can increase the risk of death, US government researchers said on Monday

The findings from a team at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a counterpoint to a fiercely-debated study released last week that found no evidence that making small cuts in salt intake lowers the risk of heart disease and premature death

Salt is still bad for you, said Dr Thomas Farley, Health Commissioner for New York City, which is leading a campaign to reduce salt in restaurant and packaged foods by 25 percent over five years

Most health experts agree with Farley that consuming too much salt is not good for you and that cutting salt intake can reduce High Blood Pressure, which raises the risk of heart attack and stroke Salt intake has been rising since the 1970s, with Americans consuming about twice the recommended daily limit

The CDC study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, specifically focused on growing research that shows a diet high in salt and low in potassium is especially risky

Farley, who wrote an editorial on the CDC study, said it is one of the best yet looking at the long-term effects of eating too much salt

It is entirely consistent with what weve said all along about sodium intake, Farley said in a telephone interview

For the study, researchers looked at the long-term effects of sodium and potassium intake as part of a 15-year study of more than 12,000 people

They found that people who had a high salt intake and a low potassium intake were most at risk

People who ate a diet high in sodium and low in potassium had a 50 percent increased risk of death from any cause, and about twice the risk of deathor a 200 percent increasefrom a heart attack, said Dr Elena Kuklina of the CDC who helped lead the study

She said consumers need to increase the levels of potassium in their diet by adding more servings of fresh fruits and vegetables, such as spinach, grapes, carrots, sweet potatoes, and low fat milk and yogurt

The Salt Institute, an industry group, challenged the findings, pointing out that the CDC study found that the link between salt intake and heart disease was statistically insignificant

This is a highly flawed publication that reveals more about the anti-salt agenda being pursued by the CDC than about any relationship between salt and health, said Mort Satin, the Salt Institutes Director of Science and Research

The only significance is between low potassium and mortality, Satin said in a statement

Dr Robert Briss, director of the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the CDC, said the findings support the general weight of evidence and suggests that higher doses of sodium are linked with poor health consequences

And it suggests that higher potassium may be better for you, Briss said in a telephone interview

About 90 percent of Americans consume more sodium than is recommended This impacts their blood pressure, Briss said

Most of that sodium is not related to the salt shaker but it is in foods and especially processed and restaurant foods that we buy and order from restaurants Consumers, even motivated ones, dont have as much choice as they could, he said

Kuklina said potassium often counteracts the effects of salt in the diet This equilibrium is affected when people eat highly processed foods, which tend to increase sodium levels and decrease potassium content

If sodium increases your High Blood Pressure, potassium decreases it If sodium retains water, potassium helps you get rid of it, she said

Instead of focusing only on salt, Kuklina said researchers should focus on the balance between potassium and salt

We need to strive to do bothdecrease your sodium intake and increase your potassium intake, she said

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