It’s no secret that excessive salt consumption can damage your health. Hypertension, heart attacks, strokes… A new study has added a new risk to this fatal list: eating too much salt can increase stress. Here’s how it works.
The downside of salt
Salty food tastes good… but there’s no such thing as too much salt. And yet, all over the world, we consume too much salt: often twice as much as is recommended.
Excessive salt consumption is correlated with increased blood pressure, the main risk factor for cardiovascular accidents and certain heart and kidney diseases. A new study adds to the list: salt is also thought to be responsible for increased stress.
Salt associated with increased cortisol production
In a study published in the scientific journal Cardiovascular Research, researchers from the University of Edinburgh determined that cortisol production was 75% higher in mice fed a high-salt diet. Cortisol is a hormone produced by our adrenal glands in response to stress.
Also known as the « stress hormone », cortisol ‘s role is to help the body cope with stress, by mobilizing the energy needed to fuel muscles, the brain and the heart.
As part of the study, the researchers fed the mice salt-rich foods to mirror typical human salt intake. The result: not only did resting cortisol levels rise, but the mice’s hormonal response to induced stress had doubled compared to mice on a normal diet.
Salt consumption also increased the activity of genes that produce the proteins in the brain responsible for the body’s response to stress.
Salt and mental health: a link worth exploring
In a press release, Prof. Matthew Bailey, co-author of the study, sums up the key findings: « We are what we eat, and understanding how salt-rich foods can alter our mental health is an important step towards improving wellbeing. We know that eating too much salt damages our heart, blood vessels and kidneys. This study now tells us that a high salt content in our food also alters the way our brains deal with stress. »
As a reminder, the foods containing the most salt are the following:
- Bread and « industrial » cereal products (rusks, breakfast cereals, cookies, pastries, etc.).
- Meat and meat products (especially charcuterie)
- Soups, sauces and other industrial condiments
- Chips, snacks and crackers
- Prepared dishes
- The cheese