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Salt taste sensitivity declines with dietary changes in patients with acute decompensated HF
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ORLANDO, Fla. – Reduced salt taste sensitivity took place among patients with acute decompensated HF who consumed a low-sodium diet during and after hospitalization, according to a study presented at the Heart Failure Society of America Annual Scientific Meeting.
Jeffrey D. Wessler, MD, MPhil, from the department of medicine, division of cardiology, Columbia University Medical Center, and colleagues hypothesized that patients with acute decompensated HF have higher baseline salt taste sensitivity than healthy controls and patients with stable HF.
“Salt taste sensitivity is a measurable marker of salt intake,” Wessler said during a presentation. “This [issue] has been around for hundreds of years. In Jonathan Swift’s ‘Gulliver’s Travels,’ there is the well-known line, ‘I was at first at a great loss for salt’ when the surgeon became trapped.”
For GOURMET-HF, a three-center, randomized, single-blind 12-week trial, researchers assessed the safety and effectiveness of home-delivered low-sodium meals compared with usual dietary advice given to older adults upon discharge from hospitalization for acute decompensated HF.
They analyzed data from 65 patients by using test strips containing 0.6 to 1.6 mg/cm2 sodium chloride. Testing occurred in the acute decompensated HF cohort during hospital admission and/or follow-up, as well as in three control groups: healthy older volunteers without CVD (mean age, 69 years); outpatients with well-controlled HF (mean age, 53 years), and healthy younger volunteers (mean age, 31 years).
The researchers found that salt taste recognition thresholds were significantly different between patients with acute decompensated HF on admission (1.12 mg/cm2 sodium chloride) and the control groups: young volunteers (0.62 mg/cm2 sodium chloride); older volunteers (0.92 mg/cm2 sodium chloride), and outpatients with stable HF (1.06 mg/cm2 sodium chloride; P = .008).
For the hospitalized patients, salt taste recognition thresholds were lowered significantly from admission to discharge (1.12 mg/cm2 sodium chloride to 1.01 mg/cm2 sodium chloride) and from discharge to the fourth week of follow-up (1.01 mg/cm2 sodium chloride to 0.92 mg/cm2 sodium chloride, P for trend = .024).
“This study provides the first evidence of the `hedonic shift’ of reduced salt taste sensitivity in [patients with acute decompensated HF] consuming a low-sodium diet during and following hospitalization,” the researchers wrote in an abstract. “It further establishes significant differences in baseline salt taste sensitivity thresholds according to age, degree of HF decompensation and presence of [CVD].” – by James Clark
Reference:
Wessler JD, et al. Abstract 006. Presented at: Heart Failure Society of America Scientific Assembly; Sept. 17-20, 2016; Orlando, Fla.
Disclosure: Wessler reports no relevant financial disclosures.