Revista de Métodos de Diagnóstico Médico
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Are Statistics Misleading Sodium Reduction Benefits?

Stanton AA

There is a global movement toward lowering the blood pressure (BP) to prevent cardiovascular disease. Researchers use statistical power test on dietary increased sodium and point to the resulting elevation in BP as proof that salt increases BP. However, while tests show that the increase in BP is not by chance and is the result of increased salt intake and it also shows that this increase is consistent across test subjects, the results do not show that the magnitude of increase in BP is significant enough to warrant concern. Similarly, it is questionable if the reduction in dietary salt culminates in meaningful BP reduction. Statistics mislead when misunderstood. We show that dietary salt changes do not represent significant variation in BP but reduction of salt significantly may increase triglycerides, which may be more harmful.