The dangers of a high sodium diet have been well known for many years.  This research paper offers yet another compelling reason to lower your sodium intake.

In addition to causing high blood pressure and cardiac disease, a high salt diet increases the activity of T helper cells.  T helper cells are part of the immune system.  This increase in T helper cells disrupts the normal gut microbiome, and directly affects the type of bacteria growing in the gut, promoting “bad” bacteria and making life difficult for “good” bacteria.  This research paper connects a high salt intake to gut and immune function.  It also has implications for treatment of high blood pressure by influencing gut bacteria and/or diet (low salt intake).

The Research

See comment in PubMed Commons below

Nature. 2017 Nov 15. doi: 10.1038/nature24628. [Epub ahead of print]

Salt-responsive gut commensal modulates TH17 axis and disease.

Wilck N^1,2,3,4,5, Matus MG^6,7, Kearney SM⁶, Olesen SW⁶, Forslund K⁸, Bartolomaeus H^1,2,3,4, Haase S⁹, Mähler A^1,5, Balogh A^1,2,3,4,5, Markó L^1,2,3,4,5, Vvedenskaya O^3,10,11, Kleiner FH¹, Tsvetkov D^1,2, Klug L^1,5, Costea PI⁸, Sunagawa S^8,12, Maier L¹³, Rakova N^1,9, Schatz V¹⁴, Neubert P¹⁴, Frätzer C¹⁵, Krannich A⁵, Gollasch M^1,2,3, Grohme DA¹⁶, Côrte-Real BF¹⁷, Gerlach RG¹⁸, Basic M¹⁹, Typas A¹³, Wu C²⁰, Titze JM²¹, Jantsch J¹⁴, Boschmann M^1,5, Dechend R^1,2,5, Kleinewietfeld M^16,17,22, Kempa S^3,5,10, Bork P^3,8,23,24, Linker RA⁹, Alm EJ⁶, Müller DN^1,2,3,4,5.

Abstract

A Western lifestyle with high salt consumption can lead to hypertension and cardiovascular disease. High salt may additionally drive autoimmunity by inducing T helper 17 (T_H17) cells, which can also contribute to hypertension. Induction of T_H17 cells depends on gut microbiota; however, the effect of salt on the gut microbiome is unknown. Here we show that high salt intake affects the gut microbiome in mice, particularly by depleting Lactobacillus murinus. Consequently, treatment of mice with L. murinus prevented salt-induced aggravation of actively induced experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and salt-sensitive hypertension by modulating T_H17 cells. In line with these findings, a moderate high-salt challenge in a pilot study in humans reduced intestinal survival of Lactobacillus spp., increased T_H17 cells and increased blood pressure. Our results connect high salt intake to the gut-immune axis and highlight the gut microbiome as a potential therapeutic target to counteract salt-sensitive conditions.