NEW YORK (Dispatches) -- A recent study shows that people who take extra salt with their food are at higher risk of dying prematurely.
The research led by Professor Lu Qi, of Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, U.S.A. , found a lower life expectancy among people who always added salt compared to those who never, or rarely added salt. At the age of 50, 1.5 years and 2.28 years were knocked off the life expectancy of women and men, respectively, who always added salt to their food compared to those who never, or rarely, did.
The study is the first to assess the relation between adding salt to foods and premature death.It provides novel evidence to support recommendations to modify eating behaviours for improving health. Even a modest reduction in sodium intake, by adding less or no salt to food at the table, is likely to result in substantial health benefits, especially when it is achieved in the general population.