Salt cuts could save 500,000 lives in U.S. over 10 years

On average, Canadians consume about 3,400 milligrams of sodium a day. (Amy Sancetta/Associated Press)

Cutting sodium intake by 40 per cent over a decade could save hundreds of thousands of lives, a U.S. modeling study suggests.

Writing in the American Heart Association's journal Hypertension, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco projected the benefits of gradual reduction in sodium intake.

"The results of these efforts are projected to yield substantial health benefits, an average of 280,000 to 500,000 deaths averted over the next 10 years, if small steady reductions in dietary sodium (averaging just over 5 per cent of a teaspoon of salt per person per day) can be achieved each year," Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, the study's senior author and her team concluded.

The researchers found benefits from three different approaches:

• A gradual reduction of sodium totaling 40 per cent over 10 years, which they called optimistic but potentially achievable.
• Instantaneous 40 per cent reduction sustained over 10 years to a population-wide average of 2,200 milligrams per day.
• Instantaneous reduction to 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day sustained over 10 years, the maximum theoretical effect.

The majority of deaths averted in the projections would be coronary heart disease deaths but avoided stroke deaths would also be substantial.

On average, Canadians consume about 3,400 milligrams of sodium a day. National guidelines aim to reduce that to 2,300 mg by 2016.

Americans consume an average 3,600 mg of sodium a day, with about 80 per cent coming from commercially prepared and processed foods, the researchers said.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday that 21 companies have met targets in the city's effort to get restaurants and food manufacturers to cut back on salt in foods ranging from hot dogs to soup to popcorn.

With files from the Associated Press

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