That small, apparently innocent gesture of adding a pinch of salt to daily meals could increase the risk of dying prematurely by up to 28%. This has been revealed by a study carried out by researchers from Tulane University (USA) that has analyzed more than 500,000 people in the United Kingdom for 9 years.
The research, which has been presented in the European Heart Journal, found that three in 100 people between the ages of 40 and 69 die prematurely. The increased risk from adding salt found in the study suggests that one individual in 100 could die prematurely in this age group.
“To the best of my knowledge, our study is the first to assess the relationship between adding salt to food and premature death. Provides novel evidence to support recommendations to modify eating behaviors to improve health. Even a modest reduction in sodium intake, by adding less or no salt to foods at the table, is likely to result in substantial health benefits, especially when achieved in the general population,” explains Lu Qi, director of the investigation.
This reduces life expectancy by adding salt
Furthermore, it was also found that those who always added salt to their meals had a shorter life expectancy than those who never or rarely added this mineral. Thus, people aged 50 who added salt saw their life expectancy reduced by between 1.5 years for women and 2.28 years for men.
Those who consumed more fruits and vegetables reduced the risk of premature death and reduced life expectancy
Salt increases the risk of diseases such as cancer, high blood pressure and strokes, its consumption should be less than 5 grams per day, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). However, there are many foods, especially processed and prepared ones, that have high levels of salt, even before they are served at the table, and many that are hidden, for example, in salami, longaniza, ketchup or surimi, among others.
“Adding salt to foods at the table is a common dietary behavior that is directly related to an individual’s long-term preference for salty-tasting foods and habitual salt intake. In the Western diet, adding table salt accounts for 6% to 20% of total salt intake and provides a unique way to assess the association between habitual sodium intake and risk of death.”
Another of the researchers’ findings indicated that these risks in premature death and life expectancy tended to be slightly reduced in those who consumed more fruits and vegetables, although they also caution that these results were not statistically significant. This, according to the authors, could be due to the high levels of potassium that these types of foods have, a mineral that has a protective role and has been linked to a lower risk of premature death.
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