The effect of dietary salt on insulin sensitivity

Acute reduction of salt intake causes an increase in serum lipid and insulin levels in healthy volunteers and patients with essential hypertension, suggesting induction of insulin resistance by salt restriction. Direct measurements of insulin sensitivity using the euglycaemic clamp showed no significant change after 7 days of salt restriction. Our previous study showed a time dependent course of dyslipidaemia after institution of a low salt diet. We therefore assessed insulin sensitivity (M-value) under euglycaemic conditions (clamp technique) at discrete time points using a parallel group design. Two groups of healthy males were examined on high (200 mmol d-1) and low (20 mmol d-1) salt intake. One group (n = 7, 25 +/- 3 years, BMI 22.4 +/- 2.1 kg m-2) received high and low salt diet in random order each for 7 days. The other group (n = 7, 26 +/- 3 years, 22.1 +/- 1.9 kg m-2) received the respective diet in random order for 3 days. A significantly (P < 0.01) different mean M-value was noted in the group receiving the diets for 3 days, i.e. after low salt intake it was 7.4 +/- 1.2 mg kg-1 min-1 and after high salt intake 8.6 +/- 1.1 mg kg-1 min-1. In contrast, the mean M-value was similar after low and high salt periods in the group of individuals who had been studied after 7 days on either salt take (7.8 +/- 1.8 on low salt vs. 7.6 +/- 1.3 mg kg-1 min-1 on high salt).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)