Salt sensitivity and insulin resistance are correlated with higher cardiovascular risk. There is no information about changes in salt sensitivity (SS) and insulin sensitivity (IS) after a chronic salt overload in humans. The aim of this study was to evaluate these parameters in the elderly. Seventeen volunteers aged 70.5 +/- 5.9 years followed a low-salt diet (LSD) for 1 week and a high-salt diet (HSD) for 13 weeks. We evaluated SS after one week (HSD1) and after 13 weeks (HSD13), and subjects' IS and lipids on their usual diet (UD) at HSD1, and at HSD13. Blood pressure (BP) was measured at each visit and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) was performed twice. SS was the same at HSD1 and HSD13. Systolic BP was lower on LSD than on UD (P = 0.01), HSD1 (P < 0.01) and HSD13 (P < 0.01). When systolic and diastolic BP were evaluated by ABPM, they were higher at HSD13 during the 24-h period (P = 0.03 and P < 0.01) and during the wakefulness period (P = 0.02 and P < 0.01) compared to the UD. Total cholesterol was higher (P = 0.04) at HSD13 than at HSD1. Glucose and homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) were lower at HSD1 (P = 0.02 and P = 0.01) than at HSD13. Concluding, the extension of HSD did not change the SS in an elderly group. The higher IS found at HSD1 did not persist after a longer HSD. A chronic HSD increased BP as assessed by ABPM.