US researchers said people around the world eat twice as much salt as they should, and this
behaviour translates into 1.65 million heart-related deaths per year.
Excess salt can cause high blood pressure,
which is leading factor in heart disease and stroke, according to the
study in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Led by scientists at Harvard
and Tufts University, the study combined data from 205 surveys of sodium
intake in 66 countries around the world.
“These 1.65 million deaths
represent nearly one in 10 of all deaths from cardiovascular causes
worldwide,” said lead researcher Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of the
Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.
The average level of global daily sodium
intake in 2010 was 3.95 grams per day, nearly double the World Health
Organisation recommendation of two grams per day, the study found.Although salt intake was higher than it should be in all world regions, the numbers varied.
Regional averages ranged from 2.18 grams per day in Sub-Saharan Africa to 5.51 grams per day in Central Asia.
Americans’ average daily salt intake was 3.6
grams. The US government recommends limiting sodium to no more than
2,300 mg (2.3g) per day. “The majority of Americans have acquired a taste for a sodium consumption by a high salt diet,” said Kevin Marzo, chief of cardiology at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, New York, who was not involved in the study.
- “Health risks, particularly in its contribution to high blood pressure, may occur with the total daily consumption of more than a teaspoon of table salt", he added.
Source: Yahoo News(AFP)
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