More than one scientific work has been devoted to salt and its effect on the human body, but researchers do not stop there and are asking more and more questions. This time they were interested in how (if at all) love for salty foods is connected with an increased risk of chronic kidney disease. And if so, do other risk factors influence this?

To answer their questions, the scientists looked at 465,288 people aged 37 to 73 from the UK Biobank. They were divided into four groups: those who never added salt to their food, those who did it occasionally, sometimes, usually, and those who constantly added salt. They did not have chronic kidney disease at baseline, and scientists monitored the changes for several years.

A few years later, researchers analyzed the group’s performance and recorded 22,031 cases of chronic kidney disease. As scientists reported in JAMA Network Open, those who liked to add salt to prepared foods had an 11% increased risk of developing the disease.

In addition, salt lovers had increased body weight and a reduced glomerular filtration rate, a diagnostically important indicator of kidney function, the decrease of which indicates diseases such as acute renal failure, chronic renal failure, and glomerulonephritis.

The researchers also determined that people who preferred saltier foods were more likely to be smokers, have diabetes or have cardiovascular disease at baseline. Even after adjusting for covariates, saltiness was significantly associated with a higher risk of chronic kidney disease. So it’s better not to over-salt the food. But don’t forget that you can’t do without salt completely.