A major study has found that eating less salt will not prevent heart attacks and strokes. The new findings contradict suggestions made by administrative and medical professional which advise people to reduce the consumption of salt. Indeed it found that cutting back on salt in fact raises the probability of death in some heart patients.
The research team from Exeter University revealed that benefits of cutting back on salt may have been overrated. They also indicate that significant lifestyle aspects like eating fruits and vegetables, taking regular exercise, following a low-fat diet and abstain from smoking will also affect the health of an individual.
The critics of the study say there is strong substantiation that diminishing levels of salt will protect heart. The latest study did not show that cutting back on salt prevented heart attack may be because people involved in the study could have diminished their salt intake only short period of time.
The critics further stated that salt in diet raised the risk of high blood pressure, leading to heart attacks and strokes. At present adults are recommended to eat no more than six gram of salt daily. In addition to that, in recent years there have been campaigns recommending the public to try to cut down on foods high in salt, like ready meals, takeaways and cereals.
The team from Exeter University analyzed seven published studies that included six thousand and five hundred people. Some of study subjects had high blood pressure while others had normal blood pressure. They all had been put on salt-reduction diets. But they found no evidence that cutting down reduced deaths or heart disease in either group.
However, they found that heart failure patients who cut back on salt were actually at higher risk of death. At the same time they insist that their study does not mean government salt reduction campaigns have been a waste of time. According to lead author Rod Taylor, surprisingly they did not find any statistically considerable reduction in death or cardiovascular events such as heart attacks and strokes.
The people would need to cut back on salt for long periods to benefit. The only way this could be done would be to get restaurants, fast food chains and office canteens to reduce the content in their meals, suggested Prof Taylor.