Salt is considered bad for one's health especially if an individual is trying to lose a couple of pounds as the condiment is known to retain water in the body. However, new research has concluded that adding a high level of salt to a high-fat diet can prevent weight gain, as was evident in the test mice used in the study.
“People focus on how much fat or sugar is in the food they eat, but [in our experiments] something that has nothing to do with caloric content – sodium – has an even bigger effect on weight gain,” says Justin Grobe, an assistant professor of pharmacology at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.
The team began their research with information that mainly eating processed food and meals from fast food restaurants are the two main causes of obesity. Researchers wanted to see if in fact the fact and salt content in these food items would lead to higher apetite, which could lead to weight gain.
To test the theory, the researchers fed groups of mice with different diets and evaluated the amount of weight each group gained. One group had a high-fat diet with the lowest salt and the other group consumed a high-fat diet with the highest salt content.
To their surpise, the group who had lowest salt gained about 15 grams over 16 weeks.
'We found out that our 'french fry' hypothesis was perfectly wrong,' said Grobe. 'The findings also suggest that public health efforts to continue lowering sodium intake may have unexpected and unintended consequences.'
Although a positive result was found while on a diet containing high levels of salt, the researchers pointed out that there are are also dangers that come with such a diet, including an increased risk for cardiovascular disease.
This still proved that salt is a lesser enemy to the body than sugar.
"Sugar may be much more meaningfully related to blood pressure than sodium, as suggested by a greater magnitude of effect with dietary manipulation," found the study by Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Missouri.
