The Nation : Salt Sensitivity in Obese Children Cited

Fat youngsters are harmed more by a high-salt diet than slim children, and this helps explain why overweight people are especially prone to get high blood pressure, according to a new study. When obese adolescents switched from a high-salt to a low-salt diet, their blood pressures fell dramatically. But this change in food had no significant effect on normal-size youngsters. When fat children lost weight, their blood pressures also fell, and they stopped being sensitive to salt in their diets. The study was directed by Dr. Albert P. Rocchini of the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor and was due to be published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. Experts have long known that people who lose weight also lower their blood pressure. The researchers theorized that overweight people get high blood pressure because their bodies are less efficient at getting rid of salt.