Here’s what you should know about one of the most important electrolytes, according to new research.
- Endurance athletes like runners need to consume sodium—one of the main electrolytes—to help their performance, but too much can be a problem.
- A high sodium intake can cause lightheadedness upon standing, according to new research published in the Journal of Clinical Hypertension.
- Shoot for no more than than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day to reduce the risk of lightheadedness, as well as for other issues like high blood pressure.
As runners, we know that electrolytes help us fuel our miles. One of the most common? Sodium. If you don’t get enough, you might experience things like muscle cramps or spasms, loss of energy, and nausea.
What’s more, we lose electrolytes through sweat, so we tend to try to make up for it by adding more to our diets. However, going overboard on salty foods—even if you generally eat healthy—can lead to some unwanted side effects, according to a new study in the Journal of Clinical Hypertension. And not just for your heart, either.
In the study, researchers crunched the data from the completed DASH-Sodium trial, which was carried out from September 1998 to November 1999 and looked at how sodium affects blood pressure. Each of the trial’s 412 participants had to follow either the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet—rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products—or a typical Western diet, which includes a lot of processed foods, red meat, and sugar.
Everyone ate each of the three sodium levels (a target of 1,500, 2,300, and 3,300 milligrams per day, varying slightly due to activity level and body weight) in a random order for four weeks. Half of the participants ate these sodium levels while eating foods that corresponded with the Western diet, while the other half ate these sodium levels eating foods from the DASH diet.
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Participants were also asked to answer if they were bothered by lightheadedness at each sodium level—and, if so, if it was mild, moderate, or severe.
Their findings? There was no relationship between sodium intake and lightheadedness when people ate the highly processed Western diet, but when they were eating the healthy DASH diet, another picture emerged: People who ate more sodium on DASH were more likely to experience it. In fact, 15 percent of people in the highest-sodium group experienced lightheadedness, which was the highest occurrence.
The link was also stronger in younger people and those were obese, the study found.
While the study authors aren’t 100 percent clear about why lightheadedness was common among DASH dieters who consumed a high amount of sodium (since there were a number of differences between the two diets), they do have some theories. One of which is that a higher sodium intake can increase your resting blood pressure, which can cause greater fluctuations in it upon standing. The result? Feeling lightheaded.
The findings may be particularly important for runners, since they consume sodium regularly—and tend to already place an importance on healthy eating, including the types of foods commonly associated with the DASH diet.
“Our findings question traditional notions about the value of sodium in daily life and highlight how its effects can vary based on body weight, age, and background diet,” Stephen P. Juraschek, M.D., study coauthor and primary care physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center told Runner’s World. “Most Americans consume well above the recommended amount of sodium, which has negative effects on long-term heart health. Often, athletes are exposed to even more total sodium because they consume more calories for their training regimens.”
Juraschek recommends getting no more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day—the medium intake level in the study—to help decrease your risk of high blood pressure, which has also been linked to more sodium.
“Most Americans consume way too much sodium already, with 75 percent of sodium coming from processed foods,” he said. “As a result, I think this study should cause all adults—non-athletes and athletes alike—to become aware of how much sodium they are consuming and consider ways to cut down.”
The bottom line? While sodium is necessary for fueling your runs, getting too much of it still puts you at risk for health issues like lightheadedness and high blood pressure—both of which are dangerous if left unchecked.
Danielle Zickl
Senior Editor
Danielle Zickl for Runner's World and Bicycling.
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