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SALT INTAKE, STROKE & HEART DISEASE
SALT INTAKE, STROKE & HEART DISEASE
This paper in the British Medical Journal BMJ looks at salt intake and stroke or total cardiovascular disease outcome.
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/339/nov24_1/b4567
The causal relation between habitual dietary salt intake and blood pressure has been established through experimental, epidemiological, migration, and intervention studies. Most adult populations around the world have average daily salt intakes higher than 6 g, and for many in eastern Europe and Asia higher than 12 g. International recommendations suggest that average population salt intake should be less than 5-6 g per day. Population based intervention studies and randomised controlled clinical trials have shown that it is possible to achieve significant reductions in blood pressure with reduced salt intake in people with and without hypertension.Based on the effects of high salt intake on blood pressure and on the prominent role of high blood pressure in promoting cardiovascular diseases, it has been suggested that a population-wide reduction in salt intake could substantially reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease.On the basis of the results of a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials of salt reduction,it was estimated that a reduction in habitual dietary salt intake of 6 g a day would be associated with reductions in systolic/diastolic blood pressure of 7/4 mm Hg in people with hypertension and 4/2 mm Hg in those without hypertension. At the population level these reductions in blood pressure could predict an average lower rate of 24% for stroke and 18% for coronary heart disease.
Conclusions High salt intake is associated with significantly increased risk of stroke and total cardiovascular disease. Because of imprecision in measurement of salt intake, these effect sizes are likely to be underestimated. These results support the role of a substantial population reduction in salt intake for the prevention of cardiovascular disease.
Written by Dr Martin Harris, Doctor and Mohel for Jewish Circumcision Clinic in London Bris Mila Brit Milah.
www.circumcisionlondon.co.uk
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