Key result
A 7-day high-salt diet significantly decreased sympathetic nervous system activity and attenuated microvascular reactivity compared to a low-salt diet in young healthy individuals.
Why the study?
The study aimed to determine the effect of a 7-day high-salt diet on autonomic nervous system activity and its modulation of microvascular endothelial function impairment in young healthy individuals.
Does a 7-day high-salt diet alter autonomic nervous system activity and microvascular endothelial function in young healthy individuals?
Does a 7-day high-salt diet alter autonomic nervous system activity and microvascular endothelial function in young healthy individuals?
A 7-day high-salt diet suppresses sympathetic nervous system activity and attenuates microvascular reactivity in young healthy individuals, representing a physiological response rather than a direct pathophysiological mechanism.
High-salt diets may suppress sympathetic activity as normal physiology in healthy youth; leaves open relevance to hypertension or endothelial disease.
This study aimed to test the effect of a 7-day high-salt (HS) diet on autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity in young healthy individuals and modulation of ANS on microvascular endothelial function impairment. 47 young healthy individuals took 7-day low-salt (LS) diet (3.5 g salt/day) followed by 7-day high-salt (HS) diet (~14.7 g salt/day). ANS activity was assessed by 24-h urine catecholamine excretion and 5-min heart rate variability (HRV). Skin post-occlusive reactive hyperemia (PORH) and acetylcholine-induced dilation (AChID) were assessed by laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF). Separately, mental stress test (MST) at LS and HS condition was conducted, followed by immediate measurement of plasma metanephrines' level, 5-min HRV and LDF microvascular reactivity. Noradrenaline, metanephrine and normetanephrine level, low-frequency (LF) HRV and PORH and AChID significantly decreased following HS compared to LS. MST at HS condition tended to increase HRV LF/HF ratio. Spectral analysis of PORH signal, and AChID measurement showed that MST did not significantly affect impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilation due to HS loading. In this case, 7-day HS diet suppressed sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity, and attenuated microvascular reactivity in salt-resistant normotensive individuals. Suppression of SNS during HS loading represents a physiological response, rather than direct pathophysiological mechanism by which HS diet affects microvascular endothelial function in young healthy individuals.
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Stupin et al. (2021) studied Healthy individuals (n=47). High-salt (HS) diet vs. Low-salt (LS) diet (3.5 g salt/day) was evaluated on Autonomic nervous system activity (catecholamines, HRV) and microvascular endothelial function (PORH, AChID). A 7-day high-salt diet significantly decreased sympathetic nervous system activity and attenuated microvascular reactivity compared to a low-salt diet in young healthy individuals.
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