Salt Restriction For Cardiovascular Health

Cutting back on salt does more than lower blood pressure. Harvard researchers recently tracked the rates of heart attack, stroke, and death of more than 3,000 people who participated in two 1996 clinical trials on sodium and blood pressure. The results were astounding. Those who were assigned to the low-salt group cut their sodium intake by 25 to 35 percent for at least 18 months during the study and were 25 percent less likely to have had a cardiac event in the intervening 10 to 15 years than those who were in the control group and had not altered their sodium consumption. More impressive, the mortality rate among those who ate less salt was 20 percent lower.

It is important to note that those who followed the sodium-restricted diets tended to adhere to these guidelines in subsequent years. Now you should be looking for easy ways to scale back on salt. First of all eliminate processed foods since they are responsible for approximately 80 percent of our sodium intake. In addition, refill your salt shaker with three parts potassium salt (Nu-Salt or Morton’s Salt Substitute) to one part salt—or use Safe Salt.