Research
Hormonal
High sodium intake increases arterial stiffness independently of blood pressure by altering the extracellular matrix of arterial walls through MMP activation and TGF-β1 stimulation.
Reducing sodium not only lowers blood pressure but also directly improves the flexibility of your arteries, which is crucial for long-term heart health. This benefit occurs even if your blood pressure doesn't change significantly.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
An average reduction in salt intake of 5 g/day is associated with a 2.8% reduction in carotid-femoral PWV. The authors also showed how this PWV reduction was independent of the reduction in BP values in hypertensive and/or pre-hypertensive middle-aged subjects.
Why this rating
Supported by meta-analysis and multiple studies cited.
Source
Sodium Intake and Hypertension
Andrea Grillo et al. · Nutrients · 2019
DOI 10.3390/nu11091970
narrative_reviewCited 688×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- High sodium intake increases blood pressure and arterial stiffness through volume expansion, endothelial dysfunction, and sympathetic activation, whereas modest sodium reduction lowers BP and improves vascular health in hypertensive and salt-sensitive individuals.Good
- Very low sodium intake (<3g/day) can increase cardiovascular risk by activating the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and sympathetic nervous system, leading to insulin resistance and increased mortality.Moderate
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