Key result
High-salt diet accelerates longitudinal SBP rise by ~1 mmHg per half-week during growth.
Why the study?
Does a high-salt diet during the growth period alter systolic blood pressure and heart rate variability trajectories in rats?
RCT (n=24)
Computer-generated randomization sequence
No
Does a high-salt diet during the growth period alter systolic blood pressure and heart rate variability trajectories in rats?
Chronic high-salt intake during the critical growth period progressively elevates systolic blood pressure and alters heart rate variability, suggesting a developmental impact on cardiac autonomic maturation.
High-salt intake during rat growth accelerates BP rise and alters HRV; leaves open human developmental implications for hypertension prevention.
Chronic high-salt intake may exert lasting effects on autonomic regulation across the life course. The growth period is a critical window during which the autonomic nervous system matures, yet how high-salt exposure shapes autonomic maturation remains insufficiently understood. In this study, male Sprague–Dawley rats (5 weeks of age at diet onset) were assigned to a control (0.5% NaCl) or a high-salt (> 4% NaCl) diet for 12 weeks (to 17 weeks of age). Systolic blood pressure (SBP) was measured twice weekly in conscious animals using a tail-cuff system, and heart rate variability (HRV) was derived from electrocardiographic recordings twice weekly under isoflurane anesthesia. Longitudinal changes were modeled using generalized linear mixed models. The high-salt group showed a significant increase in SBP relative to controls (Group × Time, p < 0.001). For frequency-domain HRV, LFnu increased and HFnu decreased significantly over the 12 weeks in the high-salt group, and the between-group differences reached statistical significance (LFnu, p = 0.031; HFnu, p = 0.021). These findings suggest that longitudinal, repeated-measures HRV may serve as a complementary, non-invasive approach for tracking autonomic development, warranting further investigation.
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Kim et al. (2026) conducted an RCT in Normotensive (during growth period) (n=24). High-salt diet vs. Standard diet (0.5% NaCl) was evaluated on Longitudinal change in systolic blood pressure (SBP) slope (mmHg/half-week) (MD -0.980, 95% CI -1.505, -0.454, p=< 0.001). Chronic high-salt intake during the growth period in rats significantly accelerated the longitudinal rise in systolic blood pressure (steeper slope by 0.980 mmHg/half-week, p < 0.001) and altered frequency-domain heart rate variability trajectories compared to a standard diet.
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