New Light Shed On The Enigma Of Salt Intake And Hypertension, University of Erlangen

EurekAlert -- A high salt intake has been implicated in cardiovascular disease risk for 5000 years. But salt-sensitive hypertension still remains an enigma. Now, investigators from Germany at the University of Erlangen, the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and Regensburg, collaborating with researchers from Finland and Austria have shed new light on the relationship between salt intake, bodily processes, and blood pressure regulation. Within the skin, they have detected a new storage area for salt in the body. They also found out that if the process behind this storage is defect, animals become hypertensive (Nature Medicine, doi 10.1038/nm.1960)*.