Taste Buds Can Adapt to Low Salt Diet
hubie writes:
Taste buds can adapt to low salt diet:
"One of the major barriers to sticking to a low salt diet is that people do not like the taste, but few studies have addressed this issue," said study author Professor Misook Chung of the University of Kentucky, Lexington, US. "Our pilot study in patients with high blood pressure shows that it is possible to change taste perception and learn to like food with less salt."
[...] The researchers developed the Sodium Watchers Programme - Hypertension (SWaP-HTN) for gradual taste adaptation to low salt food. This study examined its short-term effects on sodium intake, blood pressure, preference for salty food, and enjoyment of a sodium restricted diet. [...]. Participants received an electronic device that detects salt content to enable them to identify and avoid high salt food.
Professor Chung said: "In the intervention group, sodium intake dropped by 1,158 mg per day, which was a 30% reduction from baseline, while the control group increased daily intake by 500 mg. Enjoyment of a low salt diet increased in the intervention group, from 4.8 to 6.5 on a 10-point scale, although patients still preferred salty food. It is likely that the intervention did not translate to a statistically significant fall in blood pressure because of the small sample size."
She concluded: "Our study indicates that we can retrain our taste buds to enjoy low sodium food and gradually reduce the amount of salt we eat. The gradual taste adaptation programme has the potential to control blood pressure but needs to be tested in a larger trial with longer follow up."
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