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NDT Advance Access originally published online on December 29, 2005
Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation 2006 21(8):2052-2056; doi:10.1093/ndt/gfi256
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© The Author [2005]. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of ERA-EDTA. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Editorial Comment

Salt—friend or foe?

Eberhard Ritz

Ruperto Carola University, Heidelberg, Germany

Correspondence and offprint requests to: Eberhard Ritz MD, Ruperto Carola University, Nierenzentrum, Im Neuenheimer Feld 162, D-60126 Heidelberg, Germany. Email: Prof.E.Ritz@t-online.de

Keywords: hypertension; oxidative stress; progression; renal disease; salt; sodium

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.



   Introduction—the history of salt
 
Why is the issue of potential benefit of or damage from salt currently so controversial?

It is rewarding to go beyond medicine and take note of the arguments of the historian Bergier [1]. He argued that salt was an extremely precious item in the distant past and had strong symbolic connotations, both positive and negative. Positive connotations include the fact that this white substance was a symbol of the immaculate, incorruptible, imperishable, as reflected by the Arabian proverb: ‘salt is not worm-eaten’. It was also an emblem of immortality and a symbol of immutable loyalty. This is reflected for instance by the act of sharing bread and salt with a guest—still practised in Slavic countries. The bible tells us that salt was used in the rites of ratifying contracts and sealing covenant as indicated by quotations such as ‘It is a covenant of salt forever, before the Lord’ . . . [Full Text of this Article]



   Benefits vs harm
 
The relationship of salt intake and blood pressure


   How does salt increase blood pressure?
 


   Salt and oxidative stress
 


   Salt and cardiovascular target organ damage
 
Is there evidence for an impact on hard end-points?


   Salt and progression of renal damage
 


   The hunger for salt
 
Does salt hunger also exist in humans?


   Appropriate salt intake—a matter of balance
 

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