Effect of Salt Taste Threshold on Cardiovascular Response to Isotonic Exercise in Young Adults

Abstract

Increased salt intake among persons with high salt taste threshold may lead to exercise‐induced hypertension and eventually arterial hypertension. Salt sensitivity has been demonstrated among our populace. This study was designed to investigate the effect of salt taste threshold (STT) on cardiovascular response to exercise. The study protocol was carried out in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Forty‐seven normotensive individuals participated in the study after giving informed consent. Baseline blood pressure, BP (mmHg) and heart rate, HR (beats/min) were determined in all subjects. Salt taste threshold (STT) was determined by making subjects taste increasing concentrations (15mmol/L–105 mmol/L) of NaCl prior to exercise and subjects were divided into Low salt tasters (LST, <60 mmol/L) and high salt tasters (HST, >60 mmol/L). Each participant completed 6 minutes of isotonic (Havard Step Test) exercise. Data were analyzed using Student t test with GraphPad Prism version 5. Significance was accepted at p<0.05. There were 39(83%) LST and 8(17%) were HST. Isotonic exercise led to significant increases in systolic (116±1 to 139±2 mmHg; p<0.0001) and diastolic (73±2 to 88±3 mmHg; p = 0.0007) BP; as well as HR (71.61±3.73 to 99.61±1.85; p<0.0001). However, the magnitude of the pressor response (%Δ) of high STTs to isotonic exercise was not different (p>0.05) from that of LSTs. Similarly, the %Δ in HR response of HST to isotonic exercise was not different (p=0.898) from that of LSTs. Plasma sodium (7.42 ±0.42 mmol/L) was higher in HSTs (p<0.0001) than that in Low salt tasters (6.48± 0.23 mmol/L). We conclude that salt sensitivity did not seem to affect response to isotonic exercise.Support or Funding InformationSelf‐fundedThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.