High salt intake increases blood pressure— at least in salt-sensitive people. The American Heart Association recommends consuming less than 1,500 mg of sodium per day.
A Tulane University School of Public Health study found that the blood pressure response to a high-salt diet is less in people who exercise. People consumed a diet containing 3,000 mg of sodium per day for a week and then upped their sodium intake to 18,000 mg per day for an additional week.
While sodium increased blood pressure in all subjects, the increase was less in those who exercised. They found large individual differences in blood pressure sensitivity to high-salt diets— some people were more salt-sensitive than others. The incidence of salt sensitivity was 38 percent lower in physically active people. (Paper presented at American Heart Association meeting on nutrition, physical activity, and cardiovascular disease)
