Those who add more salt to their meals at the table are more likely to die prematurely, according to a study of more than 500,000 people published July 11 in the European Heart Journal.
Compared to people who never or rarely added salt to their food, those who did so regularly had a 28% higher risk of premature death. Three out of every 100 people in the general population die too young between the ages of 40 and 69. The new study suggests that an additional 100 people in this age group may experience an early death as a result of constant salting of food.
Researchers examined information from 501,379 study participants in the UK Biobank Project. Participants were asked via a touchscreen questionnaire whether they added salt to their food never/rarely, (ii) occasionally, (iii) usually, (iv) always, or (v) preferred not to answer when joining the study between 2006 and 2010. The analysis does not include those who chose not to answer.
The study also found that people who always added salt had a shorter life expectancy than those who never or sometimes did. Compared to people who never or only occasionally added salt to their food, women and men who always did so had a life expectancy of 1.5 years and 2.28 years longer, respectively. short at age 50.
The study results have a number of implications for public health, according to Professor Lu Qi of the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, US.
“To my knowledge, our study is the first to assess the relationship between added salt to foods and premature death,” he said. “This provides new evidence to support recommendations for changing dietary behavior to improve health.” Even modest reductions in sodium intake, by adding less or no salt to food at the table, are likely to produce significant health benefits, especially when achieved in the general population.”
It is notoriously difficult to estimate total sodium intake because many foods, especially those that are processed and pre-prepared, are high in salt before they are ever served. Studies that use urine tests to measure salt intake often use only one urine test, which does not always represent typical behavior.
“Adding salt to table foods is a common eating behavior that is directly related to an individual’s long-term preference for salty-tasting foods and habitual salt intake,” said Prof Chi.
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