Scientists at Amsterdam UMC have shown for the first time that salt stimulates inflammatory reactions in humans. This discovery shows that salt can not only stimulate arteriosclerosis by increasing blood pressure, but also by amplifying inflammation in blood vessels.
The researchers made their discovery in a group of healthy volunteers. Some of them followed a low-salt diet, others a high-salt diet. The researchers not only saw that blood pressure increased with a high-salt diet. The skin tissue of the people who had eaten a lot of salt also showed more white blood cells. White blood cells are active in inflammatory reactions in the body.
The researchers also saw that a high-salt diet alters white blood cells in such a way that these cells more easily crawl through the blood vessel wall to reach inflamed areas in the body. They also secrete more inflammatory substances, which enhances inflammatory reactions.
In arterial calcification, fats and inflammatory cells accumulate in the vessel wall. When more and more inflammatory cells are added, the blood vessel narrows further and further.
