Evidences of a research presented at the American Heart Association meeting this week show cell aging is faster in overweight or obese teenagers who consume more salt.
Lead 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.”
Zhu is also an assistant professor of pediatrics at Georgia Regents University.
Previous research found that protective ends on chromosomes (telomeres) naturally shorten with age, but the process speeds up by smoking, lack of physical activity and high body fat. Sodium, known for raising blood pressure leading to heart attacks, has been linked to cellular ageing too. The current study is the first to examine the impact of sodium intake on telomere length.
In the study more than 700 people between the age group of 14 and 18 years were divided into low and high salt intake groups. One group consumed 2,388 milligrams per day of salt on average, while the other took 4,142 mg/day.
After considering other factors affecting telomere length, it was discovered by zhu’s team that overweight teenagers having high salt diet had comparatively shorter telomeres than those who had lower salt diet.
Dr. Zhu gave a couple of reasons for such faster cellular aging. Heavy teenagers face higher levels of inflammation, which already solely counts for the accelerated cellular ageing. It increases the sensitivity to sodium as well.
Zhu advises the obese to lower the intake of salt as it would be an easier first step than losing weight in saving themselves from heart diseases.
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