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Lower Salt Intake Lowers Cardiovascular Risk

01/22/2010 12:16:00 admin

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Friday Jan 22, 2010 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study published Jan 21 on the website of the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that reducing the current daily intake of salt by 3 grams may reduce new cases of coronary heart disease, stroke, and myocardial infarction, drastically.

The model study, conducted by Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo and colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco predicted that lowering daily dietary intake of salt by 3 grams may help "reduce the annual number of new cases of CHD by 60,000 to 120,000, stroke by 32,000 to 66,000, and myocardial infarction by 54,000 to 99,000; the research shows that diminishing sodium intake may reduce the annual number of deaths from any cause by 44,000 to 92,000."

People regardless of their sex, race and age would benefit from reduced intake of salt. Blacks would be the biggest beneficiaries. Reduced intake of salt particularly reduced the risk of stroke in women, coronary heart disease in older adults, and deaths in young adults. The magnitude of the benefits may be comparable to population-wide reductions in tobacco use, obesity and cholesterol levels.

Reducing salt intake by 3 grams per day would save $10 to $24 billion in healthcare costs each year.

According to the background in the study report, the U.S. government recommends daily intake of less than 5.8 grams of salt or 2.3 grams of sodium for most people and 3.7 grams of salt per day for people over 40 years of age, African-Americans, and persons with hypertensions.

American men on average consumed an estimated 10.4 grams of salt per day while women consumed 7.3 grams per day between 2005 and 2006.

Higher salt intake has been linked to high blood pressure, which is a risk factor for heart disease.

Representing salt producers, Morton Satin, technical director of the Salt Institute, was cited by the Wall Street Journal as saying "few data exist linking salt intake and disease."

Reporting by Jimmy Downs and editing by Rachel Stockton

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Comments (4 posted):

James on 01/22/2010 13:18:03

We all know that high salt intake increases cardiovasular disease, genetics, food choices such as any type of meat, fat, etc. The main culprit is actually any "healthy" granola bar, lean frozen food selections, etc, anything, that has hydrogenated oils or partially hydrogenated oils. I'm tired of the current agenda of trying to regulate what Americans can and can not eat. We as humans need salt to survive and if we want to add more, we should have that right since we are not hurting anyone else like second-hand smoking! Stop printing news stories that seem to have an agenda to help Bloomberg have his way. He is not a dictator and can not, nor should not regulate what and how we eat. Salt make food taste better, is a natural preservative and in good doses is actually good for the human system.
I'm tired of reporters and advertisers helping the agenda of controlling politicians! Thank you!

Michael on 01/22/2010 14:07:56

And why are we not using unrefined salt full of electrolytes? Keep in mind that most animals would become diseased too from the so-called "salt" (which isn't salt in the historical sense, but sodium, iodine and a chemical to prevent it from caking) which restaurants and processed food use. ALso keep in mind that doctors and even nutritionists keep forgetting this fact, or have never learned it. If salt is so bad, would that make electrolyes, which has a lot of sodium in it, wrong to take? what the hell? As Sinclair Upton said, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." Disease, pain and sickness is America's dominant profit maker, and draws our attention from other creative productivity. We produce almost nothing! Is it no wonder other nations despise, or even laugh at us.

Real on 04/21/2010 06:00:52

Too much salt can cause high blood pressure, which in turn is one of the most important risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The average salt intake in the UK is between 9 and 12 g per day.

fake louis vuitton on 10/29/2010 06:12:07

d use. ALso keep in mind that doctors and even nutritionists keep forgetting this fact, or have never learned it. If salt is so bad, would that make electrolyes, which has a lot of sodium in it, wrong to take? what the hell? As Sinclair Upton said, "It is difficult to g