Who knew salt could make your cells age faster? This week at the American Heart Association meeting new research was presented that showed that cells age faster in obese and overweight teenagers that consume high amounts of salt.
According to The Almagest the head author of the study, Haidong Zhu said, “Lowering sodium intake, especially if you are overweight or obese, may slow down the cellular aging process that plays an important role in the development of heart disease.”
According to Tech Times researchers divided 766 subjects between the ages of 14 and 18 into two groups based on their salt intake. One group consisted of teens that consumed more than 4,100 mg of salt a day while the other group consumed less than 2,400 mg of salt a day.
Surprisingly results found that even in these young people, their bodies were affected by consuming high levels of salt. The American Heart Association recommends an intake of 1,500 mg of salt a day.