WebMD Health NewsReviewed by Louise Chang, MD
Cutting U.S. salt intake by just half a teaspoon a day would prevent up to 92,000 deaths, 99,000 heart attacks, and 66,000 strokes -- a benefit as big as smoking cessation.
That's the prediction from computer models that used real clinical data to predict the effects of small reductions in salt intake.
"The [ heart] benefits of reduced salt intake are on par with the benefits of population-wide reductions in tobacco use, obesity, and cholesterol levels," says Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD.
Cutting daily salt intake by a half teaspoon -- about 3 grams -- would not be enough to bring most Americans down to the goal of 3.7 grams a day recommended for about 70% of adults. It wouldn't even get us down to the 5.8 grams a day recommended for lowest-risk adults.
That's because the average U.S. man gets about 10.4 grams a day and the average U.S. woman gets about 7.3 grams a day.
But cutting back by 3 grams, or even just 1 gram, would have huge effects across the population, Bibbins-Domingo and colleagues find.
And here's the best part: To get the benefit, you don't have to do anything. Of course, there is a catch.
Food manufacturers would have to stop putting so much salt into processed foods.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that 77% of the salt in the American diet comes from processed food. Only 6% is shaken out at the table, and only 5% is sprinkled during cooking.
Would we miss that salt in processed foods? Not if we're like the British.
"In the United Kingdom, a population-wide reduction in dietary salt of 10% was achieved in four years without a reduction in sales of the food products included in the initial effort and without consumer complaints about taste," Bibbins-Domingo and colleagues report.
There's more good news. Once people cut back on salt -- whether or not they know they are doing it -- they begin to prefer less salt in their food. This happens in a matter of weeks.
The bad news is that food makers probably won't do it on their own. Although some manufacturers already are putting less salt in their prepared foods, others are adding even more.
In an editorial accompanying the Bibbins-Domingo study, Johns Hopkins researchers Lawrence J. Appel, MD, MPH, and Cheryl A.M. Anderson, PhD, MPH, call for federal regulations.
"As we deliberate health-care reform, let us not neglect this inexpensive, yet highly effective public health intervention for the prevention of disease," they say.
Regulations likely would be opposed by industry. New York City already is trying to regulate salt in prepared foods; the effort is opposed by the Salt Institute, a trade association representing the salt industry.
"Salt reduction doesn't provide any positive health benefits and may diminish benefits when it relates to diet," said Morton Satin, the Salt Institute director of technical and regulatory affairs, in a news release.
The editorial and the Bibbins-Domingo study were published in the Jan. 20 online issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
ibaL view: A good rule of thumb is to realise that adding any amount of salt to your food will exceed your daily requirements. Salt is very similar to sugar in that the more you consume, the more you will want it. So work on breaking the cycle.
Also recognise processed foods over whole do indeed contain large amounts of sodium, even when the labels claim low sodium! Look for no added salt.
There are exceptions when our sodium levels need boosting such as when excercising or when in a hot climate.
The following is courtesy of Medicinenet.com
Sodium: A Good Thing...in Moderation
We may malign the salt shaker, but sodium plays an important role in maintaining the body's fluid balance. It’s essential for muscles and nerves to function properly. But most of us consume too much of it. FDA guidelines call for less than 2,400 mg of sodium per day -- about 1 teaspoon of table salt. Surprisingly, most of our salt intake doesn’t come from the salt shaker; it’s hidden in many of the foods we buy at the grocery store.
Learn more: salt shockers
Quote:
"Since 1976, I have known how people can lose weight without ever being hungry; cure most cases of arthritis, diabetes, and hypertension; and reverse serious heart disease. Furthermore for almost three decades it has been no mystery to me how one can prevent cancer, osteoporosis, heart attacks, and strokes. The common denominator is the modern Western diet - rife with foods so rich in high-calorie refined ingredients that before industrial times they were consumed only by kings and queens. This diet must be replaced with one consisting of whole, natural plant foods. Add to this seemingly simple step a little daily exercise, and you now have a medical tool more powerful than bypass surgery and drugs."
John McDougall, M.D.
No comments:
Post a Comment