Salt Habit: Stroke, CV Disease

By Crystal Phend, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today Published: November 24, 2009 Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Cutting the average salt intake in half could prevent a substantial proportion of strokes and heart disease in most Western countries, a meta-analysis showed. A decrease of 5 grams of salt a day (about one teaspoon) was associated with a 23% lower stroke rate and up to 17% less total cardiovascular disease, reported Pasquale Strazzullo, MD, of the "Federico II" University of Naples, Italy, and colleagues online in BMJ. This kind of change at the population level "could avert some 1.25 million deaths from stroke and almost three million deaths from cardiovascular disease worldwide," the researchers wrote. Americans, like those in many Western countries, average about 10 g of daily salt intake; whereas the World Health Organization recommends only 5 g per day, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends daily intake be limited to 5.8 g.