Salt, while intellectually know that is bad for us, we underestimate how bad it really can be because it is added excessively in almost everything and our taste buds have created a dependency on it for the taste of food.
China has one of the highest salt intake levels worldwide at 11 g, which is more than doubled what the World Health Organization recommend. As a result, the Chinese government has included decreasing salt consumption as one of its focus to improve the health of Chinese citizens, where currently 40% of deaths is cardiovascular related.
In a study published in BMJ Nutrition, Prevention, & Health, the authors from Queen Mary University of London conducted a modeling study focusing on the effects of salt reduction of systolic blood pressure (SBP). They extracted the effect of salt reduction on SBP from meta-regression of prior randomized trials and population, and the effects of SBP on cardiovascular disease risks based on cohort studies.
The found that reducing salt intake by just 1 gram, lowered the risk of ischemic heart disease by 4% and stroke by 6%. While this is a lot but also doesn’t seem like much, this estimation leads to preventing 9 million cardiovascular disease cases by 2030, and saving 4 million lives where the event could have been fatal.
“The evidence for the substantial benefits of salt reduction in China is consistent and compelling. Achieving and sustaining population salt reduction in China could prevent millions of unnecessary cardiovascular events and deaths. Given the sheer size of the Chinese population, this would also bring major benefits to global health,” wrote the authors.
Not only does this provide benefit to individual citizens by preventing people from living with the different consequences of cardiovascular disease, including discomfort and time wasted in healthcare facility, it will also massively decrease the burden on the healthcare system.
While salt intake varies from country to country, it is important to know the insidious detriments of salt on your health and how your taste buds are manipulated by it to sell you meals. While it is not advised to be obsessed and hung up about the amount of salt in every meal, it is important to be mindful of what we eat.
M Tan et al. Reducing daily salt intake in China by 1 g could prevent almost 9 million cardiovascular events by 2030: a modelling study. BMJ Nutrition, Prevention, & Health (2022). doi:10.1136/ bmjnph-2021-000408
