--- title: Salt Accelerates Aging in Overweight Teenagers: Study description: A new study found that salt increased the rate of aging, a factor in heart disease, in overweight teenagers. canonical: https://time.com/33785/salt-accelerates-aging-in-overweight-teens-study/ author: Noah Rayman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-21T18:04:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T06:54:09.937Z article:section: Health og:title: Salt Accelerates Aging in Overweight Teenagers: Study og:description: A new study found that salt increased the rate of aging, a factor in heart disease, in overweight teenagers. og:url: https://time.com/33785/salt-accelerates-aging-in-overweight-teens-study/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf2482feb8190112/698686ba361760720290b0ca/149262883.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Salt og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Salt Accelerates Aging in Overweight Teenagers: Study twitter:description: A new study found that salt increased the rate of aging, a factor in heart disease, in overweight teenagers. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf2482feb8190112/698686ba361760720290b0ca/149262883.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Study: Salt Accelerates Aging in Overweight Teens  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Mar 21, 2014 6:04 PM UTC  Studio shot of salt shaker Studio shot of salt shakerGetty Images  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Mar 21, 2014 6:04 PM UTC Salt can [increase the rate of aging](http://www.eurekalert.org/pub%5Freleases/2014-03/aha-coo031314.php) and the risk of heart disease in overweight teenagers, according to a study presented this week at an American Heart Association conference in San Francisco. Overweight teenagers who reported higher sodium intakes had telomeres—protective ends of chromosomes that shorten with age—that were significantly shorter than those in overweight teenagers with lower sodium intakes. “Lowering sodium intake, especially if you are overweight or obese, may slow down the cellular aging process that plays an important role in the development of heart disease,” Haidong Zhu, the lead author of the study and assistant professor of pediatrics at the Medical College of Georgia, said in a statement. The study divided 766 teenagers between ages 14 and 18 into groups of lower and higher reported sodium intakes—though both groups reported consuming significantly more on a daily basis than the two-thirds of a teaspoon recommended by the American Heart Association. Normal weight teens with high-sodium intakes did not have shorter telomeres. “Lowering sodium intake may be an easier first step than losing weight for overweight young people who want to lower their risk of heart disease,” Zhu said in the statement. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/33785/salt-accelerates-aging-in-overweight-teens-study/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/33785/salt-accelerates-aging-in-overweight-teens-study/"},"headline":"Study: Salt Accelerates Aging in Overweight Teens","datePublished":"2014-03-21T18:04:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:54:09.937Z","description":"The lead author of a new study that was presented at the American Heart Association conference says that lowering sodium intake could slow down cellular aging and prevent heart disease in overweight teens","url":"https://time.com/33785/salt-accelerates-aging-in-overweight-teens-study/","keywords":["Heart Disease","study","Salt"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf2482feb8190112/698686ba361760720290b0ca/149262883.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Rayman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbf2482feb8190112/698686ba361760720290b0ca/149262883.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Salt","caption":"Salt","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/heart-disease/","name":"Heart Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/33785/salt-accelerates-aging-in-overweight-teens-study/","name":"Study: Salt Accelerates Aging in Overweight Teens"}}]}] ```