7 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
Most Americans consume excess dietary salt based on the recommendations set by the American Heart Association and Dietary Guidelines for Americans. High dietary salt impairs blood pressure control by affecting systemic blood vessels and the kidneys. These changes contribute to excess salt consumption being associated with increased risk for chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in America. Salt is particularly deleterious in older adults who are more likely to exhibit salt-sensitive hypertension. However, salt consumption remains high in the United States. Thus, there is a critical need for strategies to counteract the effects of high dietary salt as consumption is likely not going to decrease. One promising option is ketones, metabolites that are produced in the liver during prolonged exercise and very low-calorie diets. While exercise and low-calorie diets are beneficial, not many people engage in these activities. Limited evidence indicates that ketone supplements improve cardiovascular health in humans. Additionally, published rodent data indicates that ketone supplements prevent high salt-induced increases in blood pressure, blood vessel dysfunction, and kidney injury. Our human pilot data also indicates that high dietary salt reduces intrinsic ketone production, but it is unclear whether ketone supplementation confers humans' protection against high salt similar to rodents. Therefore, the investigators seek to conduct a short-term high-dietary salt study to determine whether ketone supplementation prevents high dietary salt from eliciting increased blood pressure, blood vessel dysfunction, and kidney injury/impaired blood flow. The investigators will also measure inflammatory markers in blood samples and isolate immune cells that control inflammation. Lastly, the investigators will also measure blood ketone concentration and other circulating metabolites that may be altered by high salt, which could facilitate novel therapeutic targets to combat high salt.
Most Americans consume excess dietary salt based on the recommendations set by the American Heart Association and Dietary Guidelines for Americans. High dietary salt impairs the ability of systemic blood vessels and the kidneys to control blood pressure, which contributes to excess salt consumption being associated with increased risk for chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in America. There is a critical need for strategies to counteract the effects of high dietary salt as consumption is likely not going to decrease. One promising option is ketones, metabolites that are produced in the liver during prolonged exercise and very low-calorie diets. While exercise and low-calorie diets are beneficial, not many people engage in these activities. However, limited evidence indicates that ketone supplements improve cardiovascular health in humans. Additionally published rodent data indicates that ketone supplements prevent high salt-induced increases in blood pressure, blood vessel dysfunction, and kidney injury. Our human pilot data also indicates that high dietary salt reduces intrinsic ketone production, but it is unclear whether ketone supplementation confers humans protection against high salt similar to rodents. Therefore, the investigators seek to conduct a short-term high dietary salt study to determine whether ketone supplementation prevents high dietary salt from eliciting increased blood pressure, blood vessel dysfunction, and kidney injury/impaired blood flow. The investigators will also measure inflammatory markers in blood samples and isolate immune cells that control inflammation. Lastly, the investigators will also measure blood ketone concentration and other circulating metabolites that may be altered by high salt, which could allow us to determine novel therapeutic targets to combat high salt.
The purpose of this research is to learn about how salt in the diet influences blood pressure in young adults who were born prematurely.
Experimental data have shown that timing of sodium intake impacts diurnal patterns of sodium excretion. The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that the time of day for salt intake impacts (1) blood pressure rhythms and urinary sodium excretion and (2) circadian timing of factors responsible for blood pressure regulation and cardiometabolic health in obese individuals. These studies will address two aims. The first aim will test the hypothesis that limiting high salt intake prior to sleep increases day-night differences in blood pressure, improves timing of urinary sodium excretion, and improves metabolic risk factors. The second aim will test the hypothesis that limiting high salt intake prior to sleep preferentially improves rhythmicity in peripheral vs. central circadian clock factors linked to renal sodium handling. The proposed hypothesis-driven studies will determine how timing of sodium intake affects diurnal blood pressure and circadian timing of factors responsible for blood pressure control and metabolic health, with the ultimate goal of identifying novel strategies to treat nocturnal hypertension and metabolic disease in obesity.
Salt-sensitive hypertension affects nearly 50% of the hypertensive and 25% of the normotensive population, and strong evidence indicates that reducing salt intake decreases blood pressure and cardiovascular events. The precise mechanisms of how dietary salt contributes to blood pressure elevation, renal injury, and cardiovascular disease remains unclear. Our data indicated that monocytes exhibit salt sensitivity, and the investigators hypothesize that of salt sensitivity of these and similar immune cells correlate with the hypertensive response to salt intake. Currently, the research tools for diagnosing salt-sensitivity are costly, time consuming and laborious. In this study the investigators will identify monocyte salt-sensitivity as a marker of salt-sensitive hypertension.
This study aims to assess the salt sensitive blood pressure response to dietary salt load compared with radiological markers of salt handling.
This IRB will cover a current clinical trial (NCT04244604) that was started at Auburn University (AU IRB#19-390), the Principal Investigator's prior institution, and is supported by his NIH Career Development Award (NHLBI K01HL147998). About nine out of ten Americans overconsume dietary salt. Compared to other racial groups, Black individuals are more prone to salt-sensitive hypertension and negative cardiovascular conditions associated with high salt intake. However, there is a critical need to determine the reasons behind and mechanisms that contribute to these racial disparities. Both acute (single meal) and chronic high-dietary sodium cause small but important increases in blood sodium concentration that are associated with altered blood pressure regulation and blood vessel dysfunction. However, racial differences in these measures have not been examined. This is important because Black individuals generally exhibit lower circulating concentrations of hormones (e.g., renin, aldosterone, angiotensin 2) that buffer changes in body sodium to regulate blood pressure, and this could make them more vulnerable to the negative effects of a high-sodium meal. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine whether there are racial differences in blood pressure regulation and blood flow after a high-sodium meal. The investigators will assess blood pressure regulation, blood vessel stiffness, and the blood vessel's ability to dilate before and after a high-salt meal and a low-salt control meal (both meals are low-salt tomato soup with varied added salt). The investigators will also collect blood and urine to measure sodium and determine biochemical changes that may be contributing to racial differences in cardiovascular function.