Lower salt intake likely to have had key role in plummeting cardiovascular disease deaths

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/bmj-lsi041014.php

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 14-Apr-2014

Contact: Stephanie Burns
BMJ-British Medical Journal

Lower salt intake likely to have had key role in plummeting cardiovascular disease deaths in past decade

Average salt intake fell by 15 percent in 2003-11 in England; heart disease and stroke deaths fell by around 40 percent

The 15% fall in dietary salt intake over the past decade in England is likely to have had a key role in the 40% drop in deaths from heart disease and stroke over the same period, concludes research published in the online journal BMJ Open.

But average intake across the nation is still far too high, warn the authors. And much greater effort is needed to curb the salt content of the foods we eat, they insist.

Dietary salt is known to increase blood pressure, which is itself a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

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