Cut down on salt to cut down your high blood pressure

May 8 2007

Researchers in Canada say if every Canadian cut their salt intake in half high blood pressure would be eliminated in one million people.

The researchers from British Columbia say, that action alone would save the health-care system hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

In new research Professor Michel Joffres of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby and his colleagues looked at the effects of dramatically cutting sodium consumption.

It is estimated that about five million Canadians, have hypertension (high blood pressure), which is a major risk factor for stroke and heart attack.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says hypertension also contributes to kidney failure and dementia.

Statistics Canada suggest that people only need 200 milligrams of sodium a day, but on average, most Canadians consume about 3,500 milligrams a day, not including the salt people add to their food.

The researchers who based their statistical analysis of data from clinical trials and health surveys of Canadians, say reducing sodium intake by an average of 1,840 milligrams a day would decrease hypertension by 20 per cent and save the cost of medication to control high blood pressure.

According to Professor Joffres that would reduce the high blood pressure of about one million people, and reduce health-care costs by more than $430 million a year.

Joffres says lower hypertension rates could prevent or postpone about 7,000 deaths in Canada each year.

These estimates do not include the money that would be saved if fewer people use hospital emergency services for strokes and heart failure.

The research team is now calling on the government to pressurise the food industry into further reducing sodium content in processed foods as about 80 per cent of the sodium Canadians eat comes from processed food or food prepared in restaurants.

Britain too is on a mission to reduce daily salt intake to 2,400 milligrams by 2020 but experts say such strategies need to be introduced gradually so that people's palates are retrained and they do not add the salt removed from processed foods.

Critics say the study authors are assuming that reducing salt is risk free, and the issue of harm to the general population has never been adequately addressed.

The research is published in the current issue of the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.