A study involving 500,000 individuals concluded that those who consistently add salt to their food have a 28% higher risk of early death compared to those who rarely or never do so.
Typically, about 3 out of 100 people aged 40 to 69 die prematurely in the general population. However, research published in the European Heart Journal indicates that for every 100 individuals, one additional person may die early due to excessive salt consumption.
Specifically, men in their 50s may lose approximately 2.28 years of life due to high salt intake, while the figure for women of the same age is around 1.5 years.
Nearly 18,500 cases of early death (under 75 years old) were recorded during a 9-year follow-up period after data was collected from 2006 to 2010.
The new study was led by Professor Lu Qi from the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, USA.
Professor Qi, who collaborated with colleagues from Harvard Medical School, stated: “In Western diets, adding salt to food accounts for 6% – 20% of the total sodium intake, and this is the only measure to assess the relationship between dietary sodium and mortality risk.”
According to Professor Qi, even a “modest reduction” in sodium intake can yield “significant health benefits.”
Those who consistently add salt to their food have a 28% higher risk of early death. (Image: Sky News).
The study accounted for factors that could influence the results, including age, gender, race, body mass index (BMI), smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and diet, along with health conditions such as diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.
The risk of early death associated with adding salt was slightly reduced among those who consumed more fruits and vegetables; however, the difference was not “significant.”
“As our study is the first to report the association between adding salt to food and mortality rates, further research is needed to confirm these findings before making recommendations,” Professor Qi remarked.
Senior cardiovascular nurse at the British Heart Foundation, Chloe MacArthur, warned that “a large amount of salt” is already present in products before they are purchased, meaning people consume more salt than they realize, and she urged ministers to encourage the food industry to reduce salt content.
Ms. Chloe MacArthur stated: “We still need some salt in our diet, but consuming too much salt can lead to high blood pressure, which in turn increases the risk of heart attack and stroke.”
