At the 49th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention by the American Heart Association, the researchers explained that lower salt intake may result in about a quarter-million lesser new cases of heart disease and could slash deaths by over 200,000 over a decade.
The study authors said that salt consumption among American people have increased by almost 50 percent compared to what it was in the 1970s, even as higher salt intake is associated with high blood pressure and cardiacdefine ailments. Consequently, blood pressure rates have soared up in similar amounts.
Lead researcher Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, an assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of California, said: "We found that very small reductions in salt intake would have very large health benefits in the U.S. population.
"We found that everyone in the U.S. would benefit, but the benefits would be particularly great for African-Americans, who are more likely to have high blood pressure and whose blood pressure is more likely to be sensitive to salt."
Against the standard recommended quantity of 5 grams to 6 grams per day, Americans have been found to consume almost 9 grams to 12 grams of salt a day and a major chunk is sourced from the processed foods, according to Dr. Bibbins-Domingo.
Bibbins-Domingo was to present the findings Wednesday at the American Heart Association's Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention annual conference, in Palm Harbor, Fla.
The research team employed a Coronary Heart Disease Policy Model, a computer-based simulation, which estimated effects of salt reduction from 0 - 6 grams on cardiac diseases and deaths resulting from the same.
The model revealed that every gram of salt-cut can lead to more than 800,000 "life years" saving between 2010 and 2019. Also, 6 grams reduction of dietary salt intake per day can lead to almost 1.4 million fewer heart disease incidences and altogether 1.1 million less number of deaths.
Just cutting salt intake by 3 grams a day would mean 6 percent fewer new cases of heart disease, 8 percent fewer heart attacks and 3 percent fewer deaths. These benefits would be even greater for blacks -- there would be 10 percent fewer new cases of heart disease, 13 percent fewer heart attacks and 6 percent fewer deaths, the study said.
Dr. Bibbins-Domingo suggested that the food industry can voluntarily minimize salt quantities in processed food items, something similarly adopted in the United Kingdom.
She said: "Reductions in salt are difficult for individuals to achieve, because most of the salt in the diet is from processed food, not from salt added to food at the table or while cooking.
“Our results suggest that very small reductions in the salt in processed food; reductions that would not be noticeable in the tastes of most foods could lead to the reductions in heart disease and deaths that we model here."
"Policy makers could also achieve these objectives through regulation. Such steps, in addition to efforts on the part of individuals to be mindful of their salt intake, could lead to improved heart health across the U.S.," added Bibbins-Domingo.
According to Dr. Gregg C. Fonarow, professor of cardiology
define at the University of California, dietary salt intake restrictions can bring down the blood pressure and thereby reduce chances of heart diseases.
"The findings of this study are highly dependent on a number of presumptions, some of which have not been tested in randomized clinical trials. Nevertheless, better control of blood pressure in the U.S. would be expected to result in large reductions in clinical events," he said.
Dr. Fonarow maintained that the American Heart Association recommends less than 2.3 grams of sodium per day for all healthy adults.
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