Too Much Salt Intake Increases The Risk Of Heart Failure


Heart Failure is a serious possibility when it comes to most health issues that we would normally take for granted.
And one unhealthy habit that a lot of people take for granted is too much salt intake.
The bad news is that it doubles your chances of experiencing heart failure, according to a 12-year study in more than 4,000 people.
“High salt (sodium chloride) intake is one of the major causes of high blood pressure and an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke,” said Prof Pekka Jousilahti, research professor at the National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland. “In addition to CHD and stroke, heart failure is one of the major cardiovascular diseases in Europe and globally but the role of high salt intake in its development is unknown.”
So the study took a look into how salt affects our heart health and came up with the following conclusion.
Prof Jousilahti said: “The heart does not like salt. High salt intake markedly increases the risk of heart failure. This salt-related increase in heart failure risk was independent of blood pressure.”
“People who consumed more than 13.7 grams of salt daily had a two times higher risk of heart failure compared to those consuming less than 6.8 grams,” he continued. “The optimal daily salt intake is probably even lower than 6.8 grams. The World Health Organization recommends a maximum of 5 grams per day and the physiological need is 2 to 3 grams per day.”
Prof Jousilahti concluded: “Studies in larger, pooled population cohorts are needed to make more detailed estimations of the increased heart failure risk associated with consuming salt.”
Reference
European Society of Cardiology. “High salt intake associated with doubled risk of heart failure.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 27 August 2017. .
