Salt linked to big diabetes risk increase
TOO much salt has been linked to a dramatically higher risk of diabetes.
An extra 2.5g a day – half a teaspoon – increased by 65% the risk of Type 2 diabetes, the kind which is linked to obesity.
The figure was 82% for a form of Type 1 diabetes that appears in adulthood, known as LADA.
The danger quadrupled for those genetically predisposed to diabetes.
Dr Bahareh Rasouli, of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, said: “We confirm an association between sodium intake and Type 2 diabetes.”
His team believes sodium, which makes up 40% of salt, helps resist insulin, the hormone that controls glucose.
NHS advice is to eat no more than 6g of salt a day.