Scientists from Tulane University found people who add extra salt to their food at the table are at higher risk of dying prematurely from any cause.
They found that compared to those who never or rarely added salt, those who always added salt to their food had a 28% increased risk of dying prematurely.
The research is published in the European Heart Journal and was conducted by Professor Lu Qi et al.
In the study, the team chose to look at whether or not people add salt to their foods at the table, independent of any salt added during cooking.
The researchers analyzed data from 501,379 people taking part in the UK Biobank study.
Adding salt to foods at the table is a common eating behavior that is directly related to an individual’s long-term preference for salty-tasting foods and habitual salt intake.
In the Western diet, adding salt to the table accounts for 6-20% of total salt intake and provides a unique way to evaluate the association between habitual sodium intake and the risk of death.
In the general population, about three in every hundred people aged between 40 and 69 die prematurely.
The increased risk from always adding salt to food suggests that one more person in every hundred may die prematurely in this age group.
In addition, the team found a lower life expectancy among people who always added salt compared to those who never, or rarely added salt.
At the age of 50, 1.5 years and 2.28 years were knocked off the life expectancy of women and men, respectively, who always added salt to their food compared to those who never, or rarely, did.
The study is the first to assess the relationship between adding salt to foods and premature death.
It provides novel evidence to support recommendations to modify eating behaviors for improving health.
Even a modest reduction in sodium intake, by adding less or no salt to food at the table, is likely to result in substantial health benefits, especially when it is achieved in the general population.
If you care about nutrition, please read studies about eating habit that may lower high blood pressure caused by diabetes, and overeating is not the primary cause of obesity.
For more information about nutrition, please see recent studies about diet that could help prevent Alzheimer’s, and results showing this unhealthy diet may cause vision loss.
Copyright © 2022 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
