Too much salt in your diet weakness your immune system

Researchers have been found that eating too much salty diet weakens your immune system and makes it harder for your body to fight off bacterial infections.

For the findings, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the research team fed mice a high-salt diet and found more severe bacterial infections.

Human volunteers who consumed an additional six grams of salt per day also showed pronounced immune deficiencies. This amount corresponds to the salt content of two fast-food meals, the study said.

A high-salt diet is not only bad for one’s blood pressure, but also for the immune system. This is the conclusion of a current study under the leadership of the University Hospital Bonn.

Mice fed a high-salt diet were found to suffer from much more severe bacterial infections. Human volunteers who consumed an additional six grams of salt per day also showed pronounced immune deficiencies. This amount corresponds to the salt content of two fast-food meals.

Read More | How to Protect yourself from the Coronavirus

Read More | Celebrity who are Donating to the Coronavirus Relief: Here’s list

Five grams a day, no more: This is the maximum amount of salt that adults should consume according to the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). It corresponds approximately to one level teaspoon.

According to the researchers, this finding is unexpected, as some studies point in the opposite direction. “We were able to show this in mice with a listeria infection,” said study lead author Katarzyna Jobin from the University of Wurzburg.

In reality, however, many Germans exceed this limit considerably: Figures from the Robert Koch Institute suggest that on average men consume ten, women more than eight grams a day.

In human volunteers, excessive salt intake also resulted in increased glucocorticoid levels. The best-known glucocorticoid cortisone is traditionally used to suppress inflammation, according to the study.

Via: khaleejtimes