Jorge CruiseFounder & CEO, Zero Hunger Water · Founder & CEO | Zero Hunger Water — Science-backed appetite control | 13× NYT Bestselling Author

Low Sodium More Dangerous #podcast #ZeroHungerWater #Sodium #robbwolf #JorgeCruisePodcast

6 May 2025 · 1 min

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1:19

In this podcast excerpt, the speaker presents findings from a study of type‑2 diabetic heart patients that show a U‑shaped relationship between daily sodium intake and health outcomes. Mortality and morbidity are highest at very low intakes (< 2 g/day), improve around 4–6 g/day, and only rise again at very high intakes (8–10 g/day). The speaker argues that, contrary to common dietary advice, consuming too little sodium can be more hazardous than consuming too much. The discussion also critiques the conventional view that sodium restriction lowers blood pressure, explaining that in insulin‑resistant individuals the body retains sodium by extracting it from bone, which can keep blood pressure elevated despite a low‑sodium diet. Overall, the segment challenges the “bad rap” on sodium and suggests that hypertension management via sodium restriction may be ineffective for insulin‑resistant patients.

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And at very low intakes, below 2 grams a day, the morbidity and mortality is very high. And then it drops at about 4 to 6 grams of intake per day. And then you have to get all the way up to 8 to 10 grams of sodium intake per day to be as at high risk for morbidity and mortality as people eating 2 grams per day. Wow. So it's far more dangerous to consume too little sodium than too much. And this study was mainly conducted within type 2 diabetic heart patients, which you would assume would be like the most problematic people to experience sodium-related issues. And this is largely where sodium got the bad rap is that hypertension is a terrible component of cardiovascular disease. It's kind of a not sexy piece of it. It's like, oh, I have high blood pressure. I took some water pills and it made it better. The water pills don't really help as much as what we would want, and sodium restriction doesn't do what we would like it to do. Because if we eat a zero sodium diet but we're insulin resistant, and the insulin resistance is what causes us to, to hang on to the sodium, all that our body will do is mine sodium out of our bones and keep our blood pressure high.