The frequency of adding salt to food and incident neuropsychiatric disorders: a large prospective cohort study of 426,832 participants.

BACKGROUND

The frequency of adding salt to food, an indicator of individual's long-term salt consumption, relates to multiple health outcomes. However, the associations between the habit of adding salt to food and neuropsychiatric disorders remains unclear.

METHOD: A total of 426,832 participants (median follow-up: 14.45 years) without dementia, Parkinson's disease, stroke, epilepsy, schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder, major depression disorder (MDD), anxiety, and sleep disorder at baseline from UK Biobank were included. Cox proportional hazards model was used to investigate its associations with 9 neuropsychiatric disorders. Linear regression model and cross-lagged panel model were applied to explore the relationships between adding salt to food and brain function phenotypes. The structural equation model was performed to explore the potential mechanisms.

RESULT: We found that increased frequency of adding salt to food predicted 9 %-88 % higher risks of neurological diseases (dementia [HR = 1.19], stroke [HR = 1.38], and epilepsy [HR = 1.33]), and psychiatric disorders (schizophrenia [HR = 1.79], bipolar affective disorder [HR = 1.88], MDD [HR = 1.63], anxiety [HR = 1.42], and sleep disorder [HR = 1.52]). Further subgroup analyses indicated that detrimental effects of adding salt to food on MDD and anxiety appeared to be attenuated with increasing intake of high‑potassium foods. Supplementary analysis demonstrated that higher frequency of adding salt to food was significantly associated with worse cognitive function, physical function, and mental health. The exploratory analyses demonstrated that lipometabolic and inflammatory markers mediated associations between salt consumption and neuropsychiatric disorders.

LIMITATION: This is an observational study.

CONCLUSION

This study suggested that lowering salt intake may be a valuable strategy to protect brain health.