With all the controversy surrounding salt, I figured it’s worth talking about the adverse effects of salt beyond its ability to raise blood pressure.

It’s a little known fact that according to the American Institute for Cancer Research, salt is a “probable cause of stomach cancer”. This is because salt has been shown to have a synergistic interaction with gastric carcinogens and can increase the production of carcinogenic N-nitroso compounds.

That being said, the association between salt and stomach cancer may be modified by the presence of H pylori bacteria. The research suggests that having an H pylori infection in addition to consuming a high salt diet can have a multiplicative effect on increasing risk for stomach cancer.

In conclusion, despite all of the hoopla around sodium these days, it remains clear that sodium intake should be minimized.

I learned about this fact from: http://www.dietandcancerreport.org/