It is a phrase I think most of us have grown up with: “pass the salt please” – now there is a call to ban table salt altogether.
One of the largest dietary studies conducted has concluded that replacing table salt with a reduced-sodium, added-potassium ‘salt substitute’ significantly reduces the rates of stroke, heart attack and death.
High levels of sodium intake and low levels of potassium intake in humans are widespread, and both are linked to high blood pressure and greater risks of stroke, heart disease and premature death.
Using a salt substitute – where part of the sodium chloride is replaced with potassium chloride – addresses both problems at once. Salt substitutes are known to lower blood pressure but their effects on heart disease, stroke, and death were unclear, until now.
Lead investigator Professor Bruce Neal, of The George Institute for Global Health in Sydney said that the scale of the benefit seen in the study could prevent millions of early deaths if salt substitutes were widely adopted.
“Almost everyone in the world eats more salt than they should. Switching to a salt substitute is something that everyone could do if salt substitutes were on the supermarket shelves,” he said.
“Better still, while salt substitutes are a bit more expensive than regular salt, they’re still very low-cost – just a few dollars a year to make the switch.”
The results also showed that there were no harmful effects from the salt substitute.
Time to make the swap?
