Effects of Acute Dietary Sodium on Cerebrovascular Reactivity and Blood Pressure Reactivity

Overview

Americans eat more salt than is recommended by the American Heart Association. This is important because consuming a high-salt diet is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events, like strokes and heart attacks. In fact, consuming one high-salt meal temporarily reduces blood vessel function and it is not uncommon for Americans to consume high-salt meals. Therefore, our laboratory is interested in determining if a single high-salt meal affects 1) brain blood vessel function at rest and 2) blood pressure responses during exercise.

Excess dietary salt increases the risk of cardiovascular events like strokes and heart attacks, independent of resting blood pressure. Recent data found that consuming one high-salt meal temporarily reduces endothelial function in the periphery. This decrease in endothelial function can lead to an exaggerated blood pressure response during exercise and may also attenuate cerebrovascular reactivity at rest. This is essential, because an exaggerated cardiovascular response to exercise and a decrease in brain blood vessel function at rest are risk factors for future cardiovascular events. The long-term goal is to determine how dietary salt adversely affects BP and cerebrovascular regulation. The objective of this proposal is to evaluate the impact of an acute dietary salt meal on BP response during exercise and cerebrovascular reactivity at rest. The investigators have 2 specific aims: 1) Aim 1 will test the hypothesis that high dietary salt will reduce cerebrovascular reactivity, 2) Aim 2 will test the hypothesis that high dietary salt will augment blood pressure reactivity during exercise. The findings of this project will shed light on how acute dietary salt affects the risk of cardiovascular events during a bout of exercise and long-term risk for cardiovascular disease and stroke.