High Salt Linked to Stomach Bacteria

A high-salt diet appears to induce gene activity in the ulcer-causing bacterium Helicobacter pylori, making it more virulent, found a U.S. study.

Epidemiological evidence has long implied that there is a connection between H. pylori and the composition of the human diet. This is especially true for diets rich in salt, Hanan Gancz, of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., said in a statement.

H. pylori is a spiral-shaped bacterium that can live in the acidic environment of the stomach and duodenum, which is the section of intestine below the stomach, and it is the most common cause of ulcers of the stomach and duodenum.

Gancz measured the growth and gene expression of H. pylori and found that in the presence of high concentrations of salt, the growth rate of the bacterium dropped. Moreover, bacterial cells exposed to increased salt exhibited striking morphological changes: cells became elongated and formed long chains, according to Gancz.

The altered expression patterns of some virulence genes may partially explain the increased disease risk that is associated with a high-salt diet in H. pylori infected individuals, says Gancz.

The findings are being presented at the general meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Toronto.