New data suggest that high salt consumption may prove fatal to certain gut bacteria, and that this could contribute to high blood pressure and diseases affecting the immune system.
Scientist are already aware regarding the increasing blood pressure and high dietary salt. We are also aware that high salt diet may speed up the autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis.
Now a new study led by scientists from the Experimental and Clinical Research Center and Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin, Germany , a version of Lactobacillus found in mice is destroyed when they are fed a diet high in salt. The high-salt diet also caused the mice’s blood pressure to rise and triggered the activation of inflammation-inducing immune cells, called TH17 cells. The mice also demonstrated symptoms of a neurological condition similar to MS called encephalomyelitis. The researchers found that there is reduction in symptoms of encephalomyelitis and also TH17 cell count could be reduced by giving the mice a probiotic treatment of Lactobacillus, which also stabilized the mice’s blood pressure.
The study was the replicated in human. 12 healthy men, who took 6 extra grams of salt each day, were under study for 2 weeks effectively doubling their salt intake. By the end of the 2 weeks, in most of the participants, Lactobacillus had been eliminated from their microbiomes. Like the mice, the men in the study also had higher blood pressure and increased TH17 cell count.
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