Excess Dietary Salt Leads To Cognitive Impairment

Faraco et al. recently discovered mechanisms by which salt-rich diets can lead to cognitive dysfunction in mice. An increase in dietary salt led to a deficiency of nitric oxide in cerebral blood vessels. As nitric oxide is a vasodilator, the reduced levels resulted in decreased cerebral blood flow. In addition, nitric oxide deficiency causes the distortion of a brain protein (tau) which affects the structure and function of nerve cells. The authors conclude that the “avoidance of excessive salt intake and maintenance of vascular health may help stave off the vascular and neurodegenerative pathologies that underlie dementia in the elderly.”