ETIOLOGICAL ROLE OF SODIUM CHLORIDE INTAKE IN ESSENTIAL HYPERTENSION IN HUMANS

Abstract

• The possibility that a high dietary intake of sodium chloride might predispose an individual to hypertension was investigated by classifying 1,346 adults according to their blood pressure and again according to their habitual consumption of table salt. The 105 persons classified as hypertensive were found not to be randomly distributed; there were 61 among the 581 persons with high salt intake, 43 among the 630 with average salt intake, and 1 among the 135 with low salt intake. The departure from randomness of distribution was not explainable as an accident of sampling, and the association between salt intake and hypertension was accepted as significant. Further classification of the subjects as thin, average, overweight, and fat showed that obesity further increased the probability of hypertension in people on high salt intake.