What About the Sodium in Miso?

The risk of stomach cancer associated with salt intake appears on par with smoking or heavy alcohol use, but may only be half as bad as opium use or increased total meat consumption, as you can see at 0:43 in my video. These findings were based on a study of more than a half-million people, which may explain why those eating meatless diets appear to have nearly two-thirds lower risk.

We know dietary salt intake is directly associated with the risk of stomach cancer, and the higher the intake, the higher the risk. A meta-analysis went one step further and looked at specific salt-rich foods: pickled foods, salted fish, processed meat, and miso soup. Habitual consumption of pickled foods, salted fish, and processed meat was each associated with about a 25 percent greater risk of stomach cancer. The pickled foods may explain why Korea, where the pickled cabbage dish kimchi is a staple, appears to have the highest stomach cancer rates in the world, as you can see at 1:39 in my video. But researchers found there was no significant association with the consumption of miso soup. This may be because the carcinogenic effects of the salt in miso soup are counteracted by the anti-carcinogenic effects of the soy, effectively canceling out the risk. And, if we made garlicky soup with some scallions thrown in, our cancer risk may drop even lower, as you can see in his video.

Cancer isn’t the primary reason people are told to avoid salt, though. What about miso soup and high blood pressure? Similar to the relationship between miso and cancer, the salt in miso pushes up our blood pressures, but miso’s soy protein may be relaxing them down. If we compare the effects of soy milk to cow’s milk, for example, and, to make it even fairer, compare soy milk to skim cow’s milk to avoid the saturated butter, fat, soy milk can much more dramatically improve blood pressure among women with hypertension, as you can see at 2:43 in my video. But would the effect be dramatic enough to counter all the salt in miso? Japanese researchers decided to put it to the test.

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