Exercise May Cut Salt’s Effect on Blood Pressure

Study Shows Physical Activity Helps Keep Blood Pressure From Rising in Response to a High-Salt Diet

By Brenda Goodman
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

March 23, 2011 -- Regular exercise and a low-sodium diet are two lifestyle changes that are often recommended to lower high blood pressure.

Now a new study shows that one appears to influence the other.

Specifically, physical activity appears to help keep blood pressure from climbing after people eat eye-popping amounts of salt -- 18,000 milligrams a day to be exact. That’s about 10 times the recommended daily intake for sodium. As a visual aid, picture 18 salted soft pretzels like the kind sold at mall food courts.

That’s much more than most people ever come close to, so some experts question whether the findings of the study could be applied to the real world.

“Because the high salt part of this was so high salt, I’m not sure you can gain any insight into what you can do on a daily basis, eating a normal diet,” says A. Marc Gillinov, MD. Gillinov is a staff cardiac surgeon at the Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart & Vascular Institute at Cleveland Clinic, in Ohio.

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