Cut down salt intake to prevent heart problems

Washington, July 16 (ANI): Restricting the amount of salt or sodium chloride in food can lower the risk of cardiovascular morbidities, concluded researchers.

Dieter Klaus and colleagues said that people whose intake of dietary sodium chloride is in excess of 6 g per day increase their risk of cardiovascular morbidities and hypertension.

This is particularly notable in view of the fact that in the Western industrialized nations, one in two deaths is due to a cardiovascular disorder and the average intake of sodium chloride is in the range of 8 to 12 g per day.

Salt restriction may not only help to prevent cardiovascular morbidities but may also counteract other lifestyle diseases such as obesity and diabetes.

As a preventive measure, the authors suggest reducing dietary salt intake population-wide.

By successively lowering the NaCl content of industrially processed foods by 40 percent to 50 percent, people's daily salt intake would be lowered to 5 to 6 g per day per head of population.

The study appears in the current issue of Deutsches Arzteblatt International. (ANI)