Same phenomenon. AFAIU, recent research suggest that the variance seen in such studies is caused by subgroups with impaired kidneys or other issues that interfere with blood salt homeostasis.
It's not controversial that sustained salt concentration is bad for cardiovascular healthy, or that higher salt intake correlates with worse cardiovascular health in large populations. The issue is whether healthy _individuals_ should care about salt.
Or to put it another way, salt isn't like sugar. A high sugar diet leads to insulin resistance, which leads to higher blood sugar concentrations, which leads to higher rates of related ailments.
It was once thought that a high salt diet directly led to hypertension, etc, etc. But that doesn't appear to be the case. Healthy people seem to have no problems clearing an excess salt (in amounts significantly greater than thought) from the body, even if sustained over their entire lifetime. And, somewhat contentiously, some research suggests that the recommended salt intake might be detrimental for some people, with the negative effect being masked by the subgroup who benefit from lower salt.
That's my understanding of things, anyhow.
It's probably a little like acidosis--a rare condition that gave rise to fringe concepts like the "alkaline diet". Consuming acidic foods is never going to cause problems for healthy individuals. The mechanisms for maintaining blood pH (calcium, rate of respiration, etc) are just too robust to even be minimally taxed by acidic foods (excluding extreme scenarios). If acidic foods cause or contribute to bad blood pH, you already have other serious problems.
The difference is that a substantial fraction of the population does have trouble excreting excess salt, and this readily shows up in epidemiological studies of dietary salt.
It's not controversial that sustained salt concentration is bad for cardiovascular healthy, or that higher salt intake correlates with worse cardiovascular health in large populations. The issue is whether healthy _individuals_ should care about salt.
Or to put it another way, salt isn't like sugar. A high sugar diet leads to insulin resistance, which leads to higher blood sugar concentrations, which leads to higher rates of related ailments.
It was once thought that a high salt diet directly led to hypertension, etc, etc. But that doesn't appear to be the case. Healthy people seem to have no problems clearing an excess salt (in amounts significantly greater than thought) from the body, even if sustained over their entire lifetime. And, somewhat contentiously, some research suggests that the recommended salt intake might be detrimental for some people, with the negative effect being masked by the subgroup who benefit from lower salt.
That's my understanding of things, anyhow.
It's probably a little like acidosis--a rare condition that gave rise to fringe concepts like the "alkaline diet". Consuming acidic foods is never going to cause problems for healthy individuals. The mechanisms for maintaining blood pH (calcium, rate of respiration, etc) are just too robust to even be minimally taxed by acidic foods (excluding extreme scenarios). If acidic foods cause or contribute to bad blood pH, you already have other serious problems.
The difference is that a substantial fraction of the population does have trouble excreting excess salt, and this readily shows up in epidemiological studies of dietary salt.