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The effect of increased salt intake on blood pressure of chimpanzees

Nature Medicine volume 1, pages 1009–1016 (1995)Cite this article

Abstract

A colony of 26 chimpanzees given a fruit and vegetable diet of very low Na and high K intake were maintained in long–standing, socially stable small groups for three years. Half of them had salt added progressively to their diet during 20 months. This addition of salt within the human dietetic range caused a highly significant rise in systolic, mean and diastolic blood pressure. The change reversed completely by six months after cessation of salt. The effect of salt differed between chimpanzees, some having a large blood pressure rise and others small or no rise. These results in the species phylogenetically closest to humans bear directly on causation of human hypertension, particularly in relation to migration of preliterate people, with low Na diet, to a Western urban lifestyle with increased salt intake. The hedonic liking for salt and avid ingestion was apt during human prehistory involving hunter–gatherer–scavenger existence in the interior of continents with a scarcity of salt, but is maladaptive in urban technological life with salt cheap and freely available.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. Nicholas I. Mundy

    Present address: Department of Biology, University of California, Lajolla, California, 92093, USA

  2. Alan Dixson

    Present address: Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour, Madingley, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK

  3. Pierre Moisson & Anne Marie Pingard

    Present address: Institut Pasteur De Lyon, Unité de Parasitologie Experimentale, Domaine du Poirier, 69210, Lentilly, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Howard Florey Institute of Experimental Physiology & Medicine, University of Melbourne, Parkville, 3052, Victoria, Australia

    Derek Denton & Richard Weisinger

  2. Centre International de Recherches Médicates de Franceville, BP 769, Franceville, Gabon

    Nicholas I. Mundy, E. Jean Wickings, Alan Dixson, Pierre Moisson & Anne Marie Pingard

  3. Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, W Loop 14, Military Drive, San Antonio, Texas, 78284, USA

    Robert Shade & D. Carey

  4. INSERM Unité 64, Hôpital Tenon, 75970, Paris Cedex, 20, France

    Raymond Ardaillou & Françhise Paillard

  5. INSERM, Unité 321, Hôpital de la Pitié, Pavillion Benjamin Delessert, 83 boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75651, Paris Cedex, 13, France

    John Chapman & Joelle Thillet

  6. INSERM, Physiologie et Pathologie Expérimentale Vasculaires, Unité 367,17rue du Fer à Moulin, 75005, Paris, France

    Jean Baptiste Michel

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Denton, D., Weisinger, R., Mundy, N. et al. The effect of increased salt intake on blood pressure of chimpanzees. Nat Med 1, 1009–1016 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1095-1009

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