Ray Peat on Salt

Short answer: Ray Peat argued that salt restriction does harm. He wrote that a low-salt diet raises adrenaline and aldosterone, stiffens blood vessels and disturbs sleep, and that the fear of salt came from the marketing of diuretic drugs.

What Ray Peat wrote about salt

He traced the fear of salt to the late 1950s, when drug companies began selling thiazide diuretics. Their advertising created what he called a cultish belief that salt causes hypertension. Source: Water: swelling, tension, pain, fatigue, aging, When energy fails: Edema, heart failure, hypertension, sarcopenia, etc

Cutting salt makes the body produce more aldosterone, and several studies showed that it raises adrenaline. Source: When energy fails: Edema, heart failure, hypertension, sarcopenia, etc

He cites studies in which adding salt lowered blood pressure in women with toxemia of pregnancy and prevented its complications. Source: Salt, energy, metabolic rate, and longevity, When energy fails: Edema, heart failure, hypertension, sarcopenia, etc

A low-salt diet makes blood vessels less flexible, raises free fatty acids and leads to insulin resistance. Source: Salt, energy, metabolic rate, and longevity, When energy fails: Edema, heart failure, hypertension, sarcopenia, etc

Salt is one of the things that produce heat. He lists dietary protein, sodium, sucrose, thyroid and progesterone as thermogenic and anti-inflammatory. Source: Salt, energy, metabolic rate, and longevity

Sleep was his everyday example. Old people on low-sodium diets had insomnia and high adrenaline. When they ate a normal amount of salt, adrenaline normalized and they slept. People he told about this slept better when they ate as much salt as they wanted. Source: When energy fails: Edema, heart failure, hypertension, sarcopenia, etc, Salt, energy, metabolic rate, and longevity

He warned that extra water combined with a low-salt diet can be disastrous for a hypothyroid person, who already loses sodium easily. Source: Water: swelling, tension, pain, fatigue, aging

Sodium also helps keep water and albumin inside the blood vessels, which maintains blood volume. Source: When energy fails: Edema, heart failure, hypertension, sarcopenia, etc

What he suggested in practice

• Salt food to taste. He describes people eating as much salt as they wanted.
• Salty and sugary foods at bedtime or during the night to improve sleep.
• Salt, baking soda and enough calcium to raise the carbon dioxide held in the tissues.

Where he wrote about it

This topic comes up in 59 of the articles on his site. These are the most relevant ones:

• Salt, energy, metabolic rate, and longevity · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Water: swelling, tension, pain, fatigue, aging · original on raypeat.com ↗
• When energy fails: Edema, heart failure, hypertension, sarcopenia, etc · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Eclampsia in the Real Organism: A Paradigm of General Distress Applicable in Infants, Adults, Etc · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Growth hormone: Hormone of Stress, Aging, and Death? · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Calcium and Disease: Hypertension, organ calcification, & shock, vs. respiratory energy · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Phosphate, activation, and aging · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Fatigue, aging, and recuperation · original on raypeat.com ↗

My take

Salt lowers adrenaline and serotonin. I salt my food heavily, and a glass of water with salt in the evening is part of how I sleep.

Quick answers

What did Ray Peat say about salt?

That salt is protective: it lowers adrenaline and aldosterone, supports metabolic rate and blood volume, and improves sleep, while low-salt diets cause harm.

Did Ray Peat say salt raises blood pressure?

He argued the opposite. He cites studies in which added salt lowered blood pressure in toxemia of pregnancy, and wrote that salt restriction stiffens the blood vessels.

How much salt did Ray Peat recommend?

His articles do not set a number. He describes salting food to taste and eating as much as you want.