Does high salt intake cause diabetes? Know what recent study has to say
In a recent study, it has been revealed that sugar is not the only concern for people worried about getting type 2 diabetes. Excessive salt intake might not only be bad for your blood pressure but also increase your chances of getting type 2 diabetes, warns a recent study from Tulane University,
The study, which looked at the salt eating habits of over 4,00,000 adults in the UK Biobank, found a concerning link between salt consumption and diabetes risk.
After over nearly 12 years of observation, the study identified over 13,000 cases of type 2 diabetes among the participants. It shows that high salt intake causes diabetes. What is more shocking is that people who added salt to their food regularly had a much higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those who seldom or never used salt.
For a person who uses salt ‘sometimes,’ the risk was 13 percent. For people who ‘usually’ add salt to meals, their risk increased to 20 percent. And for those who ‘always’ added salt, their risk soared as high as 39 percent.
Dr Lu Qi, the head of the study, emphasized the importance of limiting salt intake to reduce not only cardiovascular diseases and high blood pressure but also the risk of type 2 diabetes. He pointed out that while the exact reasons for this connection need more research, salt might be encouraging people to eat more, which can lead to problems like obesity and inflammation.
The study also revealed that people who consumed more salt tended to have higher body mass indexes (BMI) and waist to hip ratios, suggesting that salt could also lead to weight gain. Meanwhile, it is also recommended to seek for low-sodium content alternatives to add to your favourite dishes.
This ground breaking study sheds light on how high salt intake can cause diabetes. It also tells how reducing salt in your diet can play a crucial role in preventing type 2 diabetes. So, next time you reach for salt, think twice – your health may depend on it.
