According to the results of a study conducted with the participation of more than 500,000 people, the excess salt in your food can increase the risk of premature death, and this risk can reach up to 28 percent.
In research published in the European Heart Journal, it is said that adding additional salt will also reduce life expectancy. Adding more salt than normal to a 50-year-old’s food leads to a decrease in life expectancy by 1.5 and 2.28 years.
“To my knowledge, our study is the first to evaluate the relationship between adding salt to food and premature death,” lead researcher Professor Lu Qi said in a statement.
But assessing a person’s salt intake is no easy task. It comes with plenty of salt in many foods, especially processed ones, even before we tailor the dishes to our own tastes. While urine tests can provide a snapshot of salt intake, they do not show overall salt intake. That’s why the researchers decided to use the amount of salt added at the table in their analysis, rather than that added during cooking.
The findings are based on data from 501,379 people who participated in the UK Biobank study between 2006 and 2010 and were followed for nine years. Each person in the study filled out a questionnaire asking how often they added salt to their meals.
After controlling for other factors that could affect outcomes, such as age, gender, diet, and pre-existing medical conditions, the researchers found that before age 75, the risk of premature death was greater for those who always chose to add more salt than those who rarely or never added salt.
While the researchers state that they cannot say that cutting out salt completely is much healthier, they state that they think it is an “ideal amount” for salt consumption. However, while the researchers point out that their study has limitations, they stress that more research and validation is needed before they can make recommendations.
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