Sodium and Inflammation

So I was born into a family where both parents had high blood pressure. In fact, I believe my dad "died" of it... as after he came down with dementia they found evidence of TIA strokes. My mother had left ventricle heart issues because she had been non compliant with her blood pressure medications.  My brother currently has sky high blood pressure and is on medication.... all of them eat and ate, carbs and fast food. 

But me... I haven't had it done recently, but, until I was 50, I had shockingly good BP. Typically around 110/80.  I reduced my carbs at 30 and pretty rarely eat out. 

I suspect growing up in the household I did I was already a low sodium machine. I always looked for low sodium.  I just liked the taste of low sodium better. I am at heart, a plane jane. 

But recently I have been convinced to start sucking down sodium. In particular because fasting depletes your body of it.. but I think I have been going overboard. 

The day before my blood tests I consumed.

• A can of wax beans - 1200 mg
• 4 sausages  - 450 mg.
• A double cheeseburger (without the roll) 1100 mg.
• 2 servings of nuts - 500 mg for both.
• A electrolyte supplement - 250 mg. 

These were just the big ticket items. Now of course you can argue that since I don't take in any sodium the next day, you need to cut this amount in half, but I wonder what such a mass dose can do to the body.  It is difficult to figure out. There are studies out there showing that salt/ sodium does spike inflammation. But, on the other hand, they seem not to keep track of what kind of food you are eating. For example if the sodium is coming from fast food, well fast food itself can spike inflammation due to seed oils. 

One thing I always go back to is chronic inflammation being associated with excess water in the body. We see that carbs can cause it because each carb molecule attracts 4 water molecules... and it is this excess water which causes the body to react. So it makes sense that something like sodium, which causes excess water in the body is also going to cause inflammation because, temporarily, you will have excess water. 

I did find a good study on Salt and MS. There the study proved that Salt does affect your "T-cells" and cause them to start inflammation. 

"This research shows how sodium affects T cells and causes inflammation. Salt affects signaling at the immune level, not the nerve level,” Schofield explained.This offers “compelling evidence that high salt intake could lead to increased inflammation and could trigger in MS, Schofield said. The body excretes extra salt if too much is consumed. But salt could potentially fluctuate in microdomains, which are small regions of membrane, he explained."

So to me this clearly says salt can increase inflammation - so you do have to be careful of it PERIOD... not just for Blood Pressures sake.