Recently, a meta-analysis published in the American Journal of Hypertension and the Cochrane Review found that salt had little effect on mortality from heart disease and all-cause mortality. As a result, the media all over the world exclaimed that salt restriction had no clear health benefits, including those with hypertension.

However, two preventive medicine experts reanalyzed the same data, using different combinations of the subjects, finding that there was a significant 20% decrease in heart events and mortality, the exact opposite finding.

What is going on and who is right? This simply reflects the statistical bias evident in much research, as elaborated in Chapter 6 of my book, BOOM or BUST. First, meta-analyses combine different studies, often comparing apples to oranges. Second, authors can choose whichever studies they want and leave out others, as well as using whatever statistical method that proves their point.

This also reflects why it is important to not believe everything you hear from the media, as elaborated in Chapter 7 of BOOM or BUST. Many people heard about the first study, but many of those did not hear about the second study, and have been misled.

In fact, most studies overwhelmingly show that too much salt is a major factor in increasing blood pressure and in increasing the risk for heart disease.