Salt may be Linked to Autoimmune Disease, Average American Consumes 50 Percent more than Recommended Daily Amount

Our favorite salty snacks may be triggering autoimmune disease, according to recent studies.

This may be an important step in clearly indentifying dietary and other environmental causes of these disorders at a time of high fat and preservative consumption in processed foods.

According to The Boston Globe, Americans on average consume nearly 50 percent more salt than recommended, and salty diets have long been linked to problems such as high blood pressure.

Study findings raise the possibility that cutting salt intake could protect against autoimmune disease. This occurs when the defenses against infections go haywire and attack the body itself. However, researchers admit that far more data must be collected before a significant determination can be assessed.

According to reports, scientists found an enzyme that, when exposed to salt, causes a regular immune cell to transform into a pathogenic one, spewing out inflammatory proteins that have been linked to autoimmune illnesses. Mice genetically prone to develop a form of multiple sclerosis had more severe disease when fed a high-salt diet, the researchers reported.

 "I was quite elated when I saw this work," said Dr. Lawrence Steinman, a professor of neurology at Stanford University, who was not involved in the research described in a trio of papers published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

Steinman plans to launch a trial of a drug for MS patients that targets a different but related process involved in salt regulation. "I'm such a strong believer that salt matters that I'm pushing this into the clinic."

The team's work illustrates just how powerful new biological approaches can be. The work, supported partly by the National Institutes of Health, is the kind of fundamental laboratory research whose funding scientists say is imperiled by the across-the-board federal spending cuts that began last week.

Yet many outside researchers still caution against initial findings of the reports, stating that a solid connection between salt and autoimmune disease needs more research to be confirmed.