Less salty diets would save millions of lives: study
PARIS, France (AFP) – Reducing salt intake worldwide by only ten per cent could save millions of lives, a study reported yesterday.
Government-led public service campaigns could massively cut mortality and disability caused by salt-triggered heart attacks and strokes for just over 10 US cents a year per person, researchers calculated.
Even without including healthcare savings, “we found that a government supported, national policy to reduce population sodium intake by 10 per cent over 10 years would be cost effective,” the authors concluded in the medical journal BMJ.
Most adults exceed the recommended maximum salt levels of two grammes per day, resulting in 1.65 million deaths from heart disease every year, according to the World Health Organisation.
Research has shown that national policies to curb salt consumption can reduce the number of people affected by high blood pressure and heart disease.