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Limiting Dietary Salt Undercuts Heart Disease Risk |
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Written by Theresa Maher
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Saturday, 21 April 2007 |
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Consuming excess salt is one of the main causes of high blood pressure and other related heart diseases. The first thing doctors advise a patient with heart disease is to limit salt intake. A new study spanning over 15 years indicates additional benefits of lowering dietary salt. Published in the British Medical Journal, the study suggests people can lower heart disease risk by 25 percent if they cut down on their daily salt consumption.
Furthermore reducing salt consumption also accounts for a 20 percent reduction in the risk of dying from heart disease, the researchers at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School found. Excess salt intake has always been linked to high blood pressure although its role in other cardiovascular diseases was debatable.
Salt contains elemental sodium and chloride. Excess salt intake will raise the level of sodium in the body, which is linked to increases water retention. This causes the heart to put in more effort in pumping blood and hence raises blood pressure. High blood pressure or hypertension is a causative factor in heart attacks and strokes. By this logic lowering salt intake would also lower heart disease risk.
But previous studies did not find any such link between heart disease risk and low salt diet. The present study by Dr Nancy Cook and colleagues is the first long lasting study to portray that high salt consumption is bad for the heart.
The researchers analyzed urine samples of nearly 3,000 people in 1990s and found average salt intake to be in the region of 10 grams per day. Thereafter the volunteers were randomly assigned to either receive a low-salt diet or a regular diet. Those assigned for the low-salt diet also attended weekly workshops that demonstrated low-salt cooking and stressed the importance of reading food labels.
After three months, researchers again collected urine samples for salt analysis and found the low-salt group had reduced salt intake by 3 grams per day. Researchers were able to obtain health information on 2415 of the participants after 15 years.
Participants of the low-salt diet regime continued to follow the same diet and also looked for foods containing less of salt in supermarkets. Around 47 percent of the low-salt group in the study continued to restrict salt intake, while 29 percent of the control group did so.
Taking into consideration factors like age and weight Dr Cook and colleagues said lowering salt intake by 30 percent could reduce heart disease risk by almost 25 percent. Additionally low salt diet can also lower fatal heart disease risk by 20 percent.
"Dietary intake of sodium among Americans is excessively high," Dr Cook pointed out. "Our study suggests that reducing the level of salt in the diet would lead to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease."
One level U.S. teaspoonful of granulated evaporated salt contains approximately 6,200 mg sodium chloride, or approximately 2,400 mg sodium. The American Heart Association recommends 2,300 milligrams (mg) of salt per day. However in people suffering from high blood pressure or congestive heart failure should only consume 2,000 mg of salt per day.
It is a fact that cutting down on salt reduces blood pressure, whether or not blood pressure is high in individuals. The National Academy of Sciences recommends that Americans consume a minimum of 500 mg/day of sodium to maintain good health.
The present study funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute says that Americans would be doing their heart a favor by cutting down on salty foods. The NHLBI said 65 million American adults were hypertensive defined as hiving blood pressure of 140/90 mm of Hg and above. An additional 59 million were hovering on the prehypertensive mark.
Over 80 percent of salt intake is through processed foods, which contain what are often called "hidden salts." These salts up sodium levels in the body leading to high blood pressure and consequently increase risk of heart disease and stroke.
The study authors say their findings are substantial enough to warrant low-salt diet recommendations, "The observed reduction in cardiovascular risk associated with this sodium decrease was substantial and provides strong support for population-wide reduction in dietary sodium intake to prevent cardiovascular disease."
The American Heart Association says low salt foods are ones that have 140 milligrams or less sodium per serving. Consumers are encouraged to try these foods rather than convenience foods that are high on sodium content. Simple dietary changes to reduce salt consumption will only help in averting not only high blood pressure, but also its adverse effects like heart disease.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 21 April 2007 )
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