ArticleFrontiers in physiology2016
Reduced Dietary Sodium Intake Increases Heart Rate. A Meta-Analysis of 63 Randomized Controlled Trials Including 72 Study Populations.
Article in Frontiers in physiology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Dietary salt intake and cardiovascular outcomes: an umbrella review of meta-analyses and dose-response evidence.Annals of medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of low sodium diet versus high sodium diet on blood pressure, renin, aldosterone, catecholamines, cholesterol, and triglyceride.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Dietary Sodium Intake and Health Indicators: A Systematic Review of Published Literature between January 2015 and December 2019.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2020Pooled it
- Association between intake of red and processed meat and the risk of heart failure: a meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2019Pooled it
- More evidence that salt increases blood pressure and risk of kidney disease from the Science of Salt: A regularly updated systematic review of salt and health outcomes (April-July 2016).Journal of clinical hypertension (Greenwich, Conn.) · 2017Pooled it
- Effects of low sodium diet versus high sodium diet on blood pressure, renin, aldosterone, catecholamines, cholesterol, and triglyceride.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2017Pooled it
- High-sodium diet does not worsen endothelial function in female patients with postural tachycardia syndrome.Clinical autonomic research : official journal of the Clinical Autonomic Research Society · 2021Trial
- Effect of high-salt diet on blood pressure and body fluid composition in patients with type 1 diabetes: randomized controlled intervention trial.BMJ open diabetes research & care · 2020Trial
- Determinants of High Salt Intake in Croatian Adults: Evidence from 24-Hour Urinary Sodium Excretion in the EH-UH 2 Study.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Central nervous system mechanisms of salt-sensitive hypertension.Physiological reviews · 2025Review
- Associations and mediators of estimated sodium intake with cardiovascular mortality: data based on a national population cohort.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- Dietary sodium intake and all-cause mortality in rheumatoid arthritis: an NHANES analysis (2003-2018).Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- Cardiac Behavior and Heart Rate Variability in Elderly Hypertensive Individuals during Aerobic Exercise: A Non-Randomized Controlled Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Microbiological Safety and Shelf-Life of Low-Salt Meat Products-A Review.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Dietary Intervention to Improve Blood Pressure Control: Beyond Salt Restriction.High blood pressure & cardiovascular prevention : the official journal of the Italian Society of Hypertension · 2021Review
- Sodium intake, life expectancy, and all-cause mortality.European heart journal · 2021Observational
- Estimated salt intake and risk of atrial fibrillation in a prospective community-based cohort.Journal of internal medicine · 2021Observational
- Thoroughly Calibrated Modular Agent-Based Model of the Human Cardiovascular and Renal Systems for Blood Pressure Regulation in Health and Disease.Frontiers in physiology · 2021Article
- Sodium Intake and Heart Failure.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Review
- Comparison of endothelial function and sympathetic nervous system activity along the glucose continuum in individuals with differing metabolic risk profiles and low dietary sodium intake.BMJ open diabetes research & care · 2019Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Reduced dietary sodium intake (sodium reduction) increases heart rate in some studies of animals and humans. As heart rate is independently associated with the development of heart failure and increased risk of premature death a potential increase in heart rate could be a harmful side-effect of sodium reduction. The purpose of the present meta-analysis was to investigate the effect of sodium reduction on heart rate. Relevant studies were retrieved from an updated pool of 176 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published in the period 1973-2014. Sixty-three of the RCTs including 72 study populations reported data on heart rate. In a meta-analysis of these data sodium reduction increased heart rate with 1.65 beats per minute [95% CI: 1.19, 2.11], p < 0.00001, corresponding to 2.4% of the baseline heart rate. This effect was independent of baseline blood pressure. In conclusion sodium reduction increases heart rate by as much (2.4%) as it decreases blood pressure (2.5%). This side-effect, which may cause harmful health effects, contributes to the need for a revision of the present dietary guidelines.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.