A high-salt diet reduces resting blood flow to the brain and causes dementia in mice. The study, published Jan. 15 in Nature Neuroscience, is the first to unveil a gut-brain connection linking high dietary salt intake to neurovascular and cognitive impairment. The findings illuminate a potential future target for countering harmful effects to the brain caused by excess salt consumption.
Nature Neuroscience (2018) doi: 10.1038/s41593-017-0059-z
Dietary salt promotes neurovascular and cognitive dysfunction through a gut-initiated TH17 response
Authors:
Giuseppe Faraco, David Brea, Lidia Garcia-Bonilla, Gang Wang, Gianfranco Racchumi, Haejoo Chang, Izaskun Buendia, Monica M. Santisteban, Steven G. Segarra, Kenzo Koizumi, Yukio Sugiyama, Michelle Murphy, Henning Voss, Joseph Anrather & Costantino Iadecola
https://news.weill.cornell.edu/news/2018/01/a-high-salt-diet-produces-dementia-in-mice
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/hold-salt-gut-reaction-may-impair-brains-mice