In a study from Tulane University, scientists found adding additional salt to foods at a lower frequency is associated with a reduced risk of heart disease, heart failure, and ischemic heart disease.
Even among those following a DASH-style diet, behavioral interventions to lessen salt consumption could further improve heart health.
There’s substantial evidence linking high sodium intake to high blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart disease.
In the study, the team evaluated whether the frequency of adding salt to foods was linked with incident heart disease risk in 176,570 participants from the UK Biobank.
The study also examined the association between the frequency of adding salt to foods and the DASH diet as it relates to heart disease risk.
The researchers found that people who don’t shake a little additional salt to their foods very often had a much lower risk of heart disease events, regardless of lifestyle factors and pre-existing disease.
They also found that when patients combine a DASH diet with a low frequency of adding salt, they had the lowest heart disease risk.
This is meaningful as reducing additional salt to food, not removing salt entirely, is an incredibly modifiable risk factor that we can hopefully encourage our patients to make without much sacrifice.
The DASH-style diet was developed to prevent hypertension by limiting the consumption of red and processed meats and focusing on vegetables, fruit, whole grains, low-fat dairy, nuts, and legumes.
While the DASH diet has yielded benefits in relation to reducing heart disease risk, a recent clinical trial found that combining the DASH diet with sodium reduction was more beneficial for certain cardiac biomarkers, including cardiac injury, strain, and inflammation.
The team says participants with a lower frequency of adding salt to foods were more likely to be women; white; have a lower body mass index; more likely to have moderate alcohol consumption; less likely to be current smokers, and more physically active.
They also had a higher prevalence of high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease, but a lower prevalence of cancer.
These participants were also more likely to adhere to a DASH-style diet and consumed more fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes, whole grains, and low-fat dietary but less sugar-sweetened drinks or red/processed meats than those with a higher frequency of adding salt to foods.
The researchers found the association of adding salt to foods with heart disease risk was stronger in participants of lower socioeconomic status, as well as in current smokers.
A higher modified DASH diet score was associated with a lower risk of heart disease events.
If you care about heart health, please read studies that COVID-19 infection may harm the right side of your heart, and daytime naps could help prevent heart attacks and strokes.
For more information about health, please see recent studies about how oral health may affect your heart and brain, and results showing this diabetes drug could revolutionize heart failure treatment.
The study was conducted by Lu Qi et al and published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
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