Now salt is safe to eatSALT is safe to eat – and cutting our daily intake does nothing to lower the risk of suffering from heart disease, research shows.
By: Jo Willey, Health Correspondent
Published: Wed, July 6, 2011
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 'Nanny state' council bosses at Stockport Council banned salt shakers in fish and chip shops
For years, doctors have been telling us that too much salt is bad and official NHS guidance aims to speed up new measures to control how much we eat.
But now a study, using more data than ever before, shows although blood pressure reduced when salt intake was cut, this had no long-term health benefits.
It is welcome news for those who love their fish and chips with a dash of salt and vinegar.
Earlier this year the Daily Express revealed how “nanny state” council bosses at Stockport Council banned salt shakers in fish and chip shops as part of a healthy living drive. But critics condemned the move, insisting customers should be free to make up their own minds.
High levels of salt have long been said to lead to a greater risk of high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes.
It is welcome news for those who love their fish and chips with a dash of salt and vinegar.
Guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) has called for the speeding up of salt reduction measures, cutting the intake of salt from 6g a day per adult by 2015 to 3g by 2025.
Nice claims up to 40,000 deaths from heart disease and strokes could be prevented by changes to lifestyle.
But in a blow to that advice, this review has shown slashing our daily intake is not as beneficial as thought. People who cut the salt they ate by a small amount saw their blood pressure reduce after six months.
Professor Rod Taylor, from the University of Exeter, whose research is published in the latest edition of The Cochrane Library, said: “Intensive support and encouragement to reduce salt intake did lead to a reduction in salt eaten and a small reduction in blood pressure after more than six months.
“What we wanted to see was whether this dietary change also reduced a person’s risk of dying or suffering from cardiovascular events.”
Most studies recommended a reduction of 50 per cent of normal salt intake. A person’s daily salt intake from the research papers reviewed was on average 8-9g a day, so the reduction was to around 4g.
But this then had no long-term health benefits that may usually be expected from eating less salt.
The team reviewed seven studies that looked at 6,489 people, which they said was a large enough set of data from which to draw conclusions. Most experts say too much salt has detrimental health effects and cutting your intake can have beneficial effects in people with normal and high blood pressure but Prof Taylor said he could not find enough evidence for the theory.
He said: “We believe that we didn’t see big benefits in this study because the people in the trials we analysed only reduced their salt intake by a moderate amount, so the effect on blood pressure and heart disease was not large.”
His finding led him to call for health professionals to find more effective ways of reducing salt intake that are practical and inexpensive.
Prof Taylor said: “With governments setting ever lower targets for salt intake, and food manufacturers working to remove it from their products, it’s really important that we do some large research trials to get a full understanding of the benefits and risks of reducing salt intake.” |
