Here’s why you should skip sprinkling extra salt on your dinner
- Replies 4
When our meal tastes a tad bit blander than what we would normally prefer, we usually opt for a quick and easy fix – adding a pinch of salt. It’s a staple ingredient found in countless dishes as it’s a great flavouring agent and preservative.
However, a recent study found that regularly eating salty food can lead to grave consequences. So if you always tend to sprinkle some extra salt on your meals (we’re guilty too), then you may want to start toning it down or bid adieu to the common habit entirely.
After researchers from Tulane University observed the eating habits of 501,379 participants from the UK Biobank for a decade, they found that people who always added extra salt to their meals were 28 per cent more likely to die before reaching the age of 75 – in comparison to those who either never or rarely added the ingredient to their meals.
They measured the habit by asking the participants how often they sprinkled salt on their meals — with the options of never or rarely, sometimes, usually, or always.
As a result, the researchers recorded a total of 18,474 premature deaths (under the age of 75), discovering that about three in every 100 people aged between 40-69 die prematurely in the general population.
Skip adding salt to your meals! Image Credit: Healthline
According to NHS guidelines, adults shouldn't eat more than 6 grams of salt per day and children should consume even less. But statistics show that Australian adults consume an estimated 9 grams of salt per day, which greatly exceeds the recommended maximum sodium intake.
Consuming a high amount of salt regularly leads to increased water retention in the blood. And when this happens, it raises the blood pressure, which in turn increases the risk of suffering from a heart attack or stroke.
Heart disease and strokes are one of the biggest causes of death, killing about 160,000 people a year, with the American death toll about five times higher.
And if you’re still unconvinced that added salt is more detrimental to our bodies than it may seem, experts revealed that because salt is, more often than not, already ‘hidden’ in the majority of the food items that we eat, our salt intake is actually way higher than we realise.
Sodium can be found in a wide range of meals, from instant soups to pasta sauces, in an effort to improve their taste. It’s also known to boost the shelf life of food and is generously added to products like sliced hams and other cured meats.
Salt can be found in a wide range of food items. Image Credit: iStock
Chloe MacArthur, from the British Heart Foundation, explained: 'We need some salt in our diet
but eating too much may lead to high blood pressure, which in turn raises the risk of heart attack and stroke,”
“While it is always important for people to be careful with adding too much salt to their food, the vast majority of salt is already in the food items before we buy them… Which means we are consuming more than we realise.”
New data from the study, published in the European Heart Journal, stated that one extra person in every 100 who adds salt to their food may die young.
Professor Lu Qi and the team also studied how many years were reduced from the lives of those who consumed added salt regularly, compared to those who did not. At the age of 50, women who often added salt to their food knocked off 1.5 years from their life expectancy, while 2.3 years were decreased from the life expectancy of male participants.
Scientists also found that the risk of premature death slightly decreased in people who ate the most fruit and vegetables.
Professor Qi wrote: “Even a modest reduction in sodium intake, by adding less or no salt to food at the table, is likely to result in substantial health benefits,”
“Adding salt to foods at the table is a common eating behaviour directly related to an individual’s long-term preference for salty-tasting foods and habitual salt intake,”
A high sodium diet can lead to a heart attack. Image Credit: Conway Medical Center
“In the Western diet, adding salt to the table accounts for 6 to 20 per cent of total salt intake. And [it] provides a unique way to evaluate the association between habitual sodium intake and the risk of death,”
However, Professor Qi added: “Further studies are needed to validate the findings before making recommendations.”
Heart disease accounts for 27 per cent of deaths in Australia. Meanwhile, an estimated total of 38,600 stroke events were recorded in the country back in 2018 – translating to more than 100 per day.
But salt could be the culprit behind so many more serious illnesses that you may be unaware of. You can learn about what too much salt can do to your body by clicking here.
What are your thoughts on this new study? Are you guilty of adding salt to your meals regularly? Let us know in the comments!
Learn tips about how you can reduce your sodium intake by watching the video below:
Video Credit: The Cooking Doc
However, a recent study found that regularly eating salty food can lead to grave consequences. So if you always tend to sprinkle some extra salt on your meals (we’re guilty too), then you may want to start toning it down or bid adieu to the common habit entirely.
After researchers from Tulane University observed the eating habits of 501,379 participants from the UK Biobank for a decade, they found that people who always added extra salt to their meals were 28 per cent more likely to die before reaching the age of 75 – in comparison to those who either never or rarely added the ingredient to their meals.
They measured the habit by asking the participants how often they sprinkled salt on their meals — with the options of never or rarely, sometimes, usually, or always.
As a result, the researchers recorded a total of 18,474 premature deaths (under the age of 75), discovering that about three in every 100 people aged between 40-69 die prematurely in the general population.
Skip adding salt to your meals! Image Credit: Healthline
According to NHS guidelines, adults shouldn't eat more than 6 grams of salt per day and children should consume even less. But statistics show that Australian adults consume an estimated 9 grams of salt per day, which greatly exceeds the recommended maximum sodium intake.
Consuming a high amount of salt regularly leads to increased water retention in the blood. And when this happens, it raises the blood pressure, which in turn increases the risk of suffering from a heart attack or stroke.
Heart disease and strokes are one of the biggest causes of death, killing about 160,000 people a year, with the American death toll about five times higher.
And if you’re still unconvinced that added salt is more detrimental to our bodies than it may seem, experts revealed that because salt is, more often than not, already ‘hidden’ in the majority of the food items that we eat, our salt intake is actually way higher than we realise.
Sodium can be found in a wide range of meals, from instant soups to pasta sauces, in an effort to improve their taste. It’s also known to boost the shelf life of food and is generously added to products like sliced hams and other cured meats.
Salt can be found in a wide range of food items. Image Credit: iStock
Chloe MacArthur, from the British Heart Foundation, explained: 'We need some salt in our diet
but eating too much may lead to high blood pressure, which in turn raises the risk of heart attack and stroke,”
“While it is always important for people to be careful with adding too much salt to their food, the vast majority of salt is already in the food items before we buy them… Which means we are consuming more than we realise.”
New data from the study, published in the European Heart Journal, stated that one extra person in every 100 who adds salt to their food may die young.
Professor Lu Qi and the team also studied how many years were reduced from the lives of those who consumed added salt regularly, compared to those who did not. At the age of 50, women who often added salt to their food knocked off 1.5 years from their life expectancy, while 2.3 years were decreased from the life expectancy of male participants.
Scientists also found that the risk of premature death slightly decreased in people who ate the most fruit and vegetables.
Professor Qi wrote: “Even a modest reduction in sodium intake, by adding less or no salt to food at the table, is likely to result in substantial health benefits,”
“Adding salt to foods at the table is a common eating behaviour directly related to an individual’s long-term preference for salty-tasting foods and habitual salt intake,”
A high sodium diet can lead to a heart attack. Image Credit: Conway Medical Center
“In the Western diet, adding salt to the table accounts for 6 to 20 per cent of total salt intake. And [it] provides a unique way to evaluate the association between habitual sodium intake and the risk of death,”
However, Professor Qi added: “Further studies are needed to validate the findings before making recommendations.”
Heart disease accounts for 27 per cent of deaths in Australia. Meanwhile, an estimated total of 38,600 stroke events were recorded in the country back in 2018 – translating to more than 100 per day.
But salt could be the culprit behind so many more serious illnesses that you may be unaware of. You can learn about what too much salt can do to your body by clicking here.
What are your thoughts on this new study? Are you guilty of adding salt to your meals regularly? Let us know in the comments!
Learn tips about how you can reduce your sodium intake by watching the video below:
Video Credit: The Cooking Doc
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