Adding Salt to Foods Linked to Mortality and Life Expectancy

A prospective study indicates that the higher frequency of adding salt to foods is associated with a higher risk of all-cause premature mortality and lower life expectancy. The study included 501 379 participants from UK biobank. There were graded relationships between higher frequency of adding salt to foods and higher concentrations of spot urinary sodium or estimated 24-h sodium excretion. During a median of 9.0 years of follow-up, 18 474 premature deaths were documented. The multivariable hazard ratios of all-cause premature mortality across the increasing frequency of adding salt to foods were 1.00 (never/rarely), 1.02 (sometimes), 1.07 (usually), and 1.28 (always). The increased risk could be partly attributed to cardiovascular disease (especially stroke) and cancer-specific mortality. The higher risk of all-cause premature mortality was more pronounced in participants with low intakes of fruits and vegetables than those with high intakes of these foods, and tended to be attenuated with increasing levels of urinary potassium. In addition, compared with the never/rarely group, always adding salt to foods was related to 1.50 and 2.28 years lower life expectancy at the age of 50 years in women and men, respectively. The findings are consistent with previous studies. Adding salt at the table is directly related to an individual’s habitual salt intake, and accounts for 6–20% of total salt intake. Source: https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/