A study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that individuals reported more gastrointestinal bloating when they ate a diet high in salt.
The scientists re-analyzed data from a large clinical trial—the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension-Sodium trial (DASH-Sodium)—conducted two decades ago, and found that high sodium intake increased bloating among trial participants. The researchers also found that the high-fiber DASH diet increased bloating among trial participants compared to a low-fiber control diet.
The study was published June 17 in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.
“Bloating is one of the leading gastrointestinal complaints in the U.S. and can be exacerbated in some people by a high-fiber diet; our results suggest that they might be able to reduce that bloating, without compromising on healthy fiber, by lowering their sodium intake,” says study senior author Noel Mueller, PhD, MPH, an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Bloomberg School.
Read more at: Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
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