Salt intervention in a cross‐over setup is effective
BLOOD
In this double‐blinded, placebo‐controlled study 106 participants were randomized to Habitual and Healthy Nordic (berries, vegetables and fish enriched) diets, and further to Usual Sodium and Reduced Sodium intake groups (Figure The study design. The numbers of participants included at each step of the study, the interventions (Healthy Nordic Diet vs. Habitual Diet and Usual Sodium Diet vs. Reduced Sodium Diet), and the timing of randomizations and cross‐overs are indicated on the flow chart.Baseline characteristics of participants by randomization groupAbbreviations: BMI, body mass index; BP, blood pressure; dU, daily (24‐hour) urinary.The recommended sodium intake is below 2.3 g/d, which corresponds to 5.75 g salt [Twenty‐four hours urinary sodium excretion. The estimated dietary salt (NaCl) intake (mean of the indicated group) corresponding to the measured 24 h sodium excretion rates are shown at the baseline before randomization to different Salt diets (week 4), after the first salt intervention period (week 12) and in the end of the study (week 20) in the different groups. Blood samples for the cytokine measurements were drawn at the same time points.