Short-term high-salt consumption does not influence resting or exercising heart rate variability but increases MCP-1 concentration in healthy young adults

Salty Subjects: Unpacking Racial Differences in Salt-Sensitive Hypertension

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

To review underlying mechanisms and environmental factors that may influence racial disparities in the development of salt-sensitive blood pressure.

RECENT FINDINGS

Our group and others have observed racial differences in diet and hydration, which may influence salt sensitivity. Dietary salt elicits negative alterations to the gut microbiota and immune system, which may increase hypertension risk, but little is known regarding potential racial differences in these physiological responses. Antioxidant supplementation and exercise offset vascular dysfunction following dietary salt, including in Black adults. Furthermore, recent work proposes the role of racial differences in exposure to social determinants of health, and differences in health behaviors that may influence risk of salt sensitivity. Physiological and environmental factors contribute to the mechanisms that manifest in racial differences in salt-sensitive blood pressure. Using this information, additional work is needed to develop strategies that can attenuate racial disparities in salt-sensitive blood pressure.

Acute nasal breathing lowers diastolic blood pressure and increases parasympathetic contributions to heart rate variability in young adults

There is growing interest in how breathing pace, pattern, and training (e.g., device-guided or -resisted breathing) affect cardiovascular health. It is unknown whether the route of breathing (nasal vs. oral) affects prognostic cardiovascular variables. Because nasal breathing can improve other physiological variables (e.g., airway dilation), we hypothesized that nasal compared with oral breathing would acutely lower blood pressure (BP) and improve heart rate variability (HRV) metrics. We tested 20 adults in this study [13 females/7 males; age: 18(1) years, median (IQR); body mass index: 23 ± 2 kg·m-2, means ± SD]. We compared variables between nasal- and oral-only breathing (random order, five min each) using paired, two-tailed t tests or Wilcoxon signed-rank paired tests with significance set to P < 0.05. We report the median (interquartile range) for diastolic BP and means ± SD for all other variables. We found that nasal breathing was associated with a lower mean BP (nasal: 84 ± 7 vs. oral: 86 ± 5 mmHg, P = 0.006, Cohen's d = 0.70) and diastolic BP [nasal: 68(8) vs. oral: 72(5) mmHg, P < 0.001, Rank-biserial correlation = 0.89] but not systolic BP (nasal: 116 ± 11 vs. oral: 117 ± 9 mmHg, P = 0.48, Cohen's d = 0.16) or heart rate (HR; nasal: 74 ± 10 vs. oral: 75 ± 8 beats·min-1, P = 0.90, Cohen's d = 0.03). We also found that nasal breathing was associated with a higher high-frequency (HF) contribution to HRV (nasal: 59 ± 19 vs. oral: 52 ± 21%, P = 0.04, Cohen's d = 0.50) and a lower low frequency-to-HF ratio at rest (nasal: 0.9 ± 0.8 vs. oral: 1.2 ± 0.9, P = 0.04, Cohen's d = 0.49). These data suggest that nasal compared with oral breathing acutely 1) lowers mean and diastolic BP, 2) does not affect systolic BP or heart rate, and 3) increases parasympathetic contributions to HRV.NEW & NOTEWORTHY There is growing interest in how breathing pace, pattern, and training (e.g., device-guided or -resisted breathing) affect prognostic cardiovascular variables. However, the potential effects of the breathing route on prognostic cardiovascular variables are unclear. These data suggest that nasal compared with oral breathing 1) lowers mean and diastolic blood pressure (BP), 2) does not affect systolic BP or heart rate (HR), and 3) increases parasympathetic contributions to heart rate variability (HRV). These data suggest that acute nasal breathing improves several prognostic cardiovascular variables.