High Salt Diets and Dementia

An interesting animal study (Dietary salt promotes cognitive impairment through tau phosphorylation) published in Nature observed a high salt diet causing an increase in inflammatory chemicals (especially IL-17) and halting the brain's production of beneficial nitric oxide. This caused a restriction of blood flow and ultimately led to the mice developing dementia through chemical changes in tau protein. ⁣
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When most people think about reducing salt in their diet, they think of cooking with fresh herbs rather than adding salt to their home cooked meals. What if I told you home cooked meals are not the main culprits when it comes to high salt foods? The number one source is processed food items! Many of these foods may not even seem like sources of salt. Examples include cereals, bread, frozen meals, canned foods, packaged snack foods such as cheese doodles and chips, condiments, soda, frozen pizzas, pasta sauce, soup and lunch meat. Another reminder as to why it's important to eat whole foods.