Low-Salt Diets May Cause Serious Problems for Seniors

A study presented at a recent American Society of Nephrology meeting suggests low-sodium diets may be contributing to seniors contracting hyponatremia, a condition characterized by loss of balance, dehydration, attention deficits, and loss of cognition, reports Channel 3000 . The investigators followed more than 5,000 Dutch adults over the age of 55 over six years. They found 8 percent of the participants were in assisted living communities, and all in this subgroup were suffering from mild hyponatremia. Follow-up visits showed they had higher rates of diabetes and falls than those with normal salt levels. "This is one of the first studies to show that mild hyponatremia ... has important complications in the general population," says the Erasmus Medical Center's Ewout J. Hoorn. "Screening for a low sodium concentration in the blood, and treating it when present, may be a new strategy to prevent fractures." Seniors in assisted living communities are regularly assigned low-salt diets, contributing to malnutrition and weight loss among a significant percentage, according to a report published by the Pioneer Network.