Avoid sprinkling extra salt on cooked food.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Salt can make many dishes taste more delicious. No wonder there are many restaurants that provide garam addition to the dining table for customers. Although tempting, the desire to add extra salt to food should be suppressed.
According to a study published in European Heart Journal, the habit of adding extra salt to the diet can increase the risk of premature death by 28 percent. Extra salt in question is salt added to food other than the salt used in the cooking process.
In women aged 50 years and over, the habit of adding extra salt to the diet can eliminate 1.5 years of life expectancy. Meanwhile, in men in the same age group, the habit can eliminate 2.28 years of life expectancy.
“We need salt in our diet, but consuming too much (salt) can lead to high blood pressure, which in turn increases the risk of heart attack and stroke,” said Chloe MacArthur, senior cardiologist at the British Heart Foundation. ExpressMonday (11/7/2022).
The new study was led by Professor Lu Qi of Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. As reported Science Dailythis study involved more than 500 thousand participants.
“To my knowledge, our study is the first (study) to assess the relationship between dietary salt and premature death,” said Prof Qi.
This study was conducted in the period 2006-2010 in the UK, where the participants were asked to fill out an online questionnaire. One of the questions asked was about how often the participants added extra salt to their diet. The research team then followed the participants for an average of nine years.
After adjusting for several other risk factors for premature death, from smoking to cardiovascular disease, the research team found that the habit of using extra salt could increase the risk of premature death. Early death was defined as death occurring before the age of 75 years.
In people who like to eat vegetables and fruit, the risk of premature death due to frequent use of extra salt appears to be lower. However, the reduction in risk was not statistically significant.
“We were not surprised by this finding given that fruits and vegetables are major sources of potassium, which has a protective effect and is associated with a lower risk of premature death,” explained Prof Qi.
Excess salt consumption has been shown to increase the risk of several health problems. Some of them are high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.
To reduce this risk, the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued recommendations regarding salt consumption. Referring to these recommendations, the recommended limit for salt consumption is less than 5 grams of salt or about 2 grams of sodium per person per day.
