Adding Sodium While Cooking, Eating Dangerous to Health Leading to Premature Death

A recent study showed that people adding extra salt to their food at the table are more likely to die early from any cause.

As specified in a EurekAlert! report, the research involving over 500,000 people indicates that compared to those who haven't had or have rarely added salt, those who always added salt to their food had a 28-percent increased risk of dying prematurely.

In the general population, around three in every 100 individuals aged from 40 to 60 years old are dying prematurely. The increased danger from adding salt always, to food seen in the present research suggests that one more individual in every 100 may die prematurely in this age range.

Additionally, the research showed a lower life expectancy among individuals who always added salt than those who never or occasionally added salt to their food.

Link Between Adding Salt to Diet and Premature Death

At 50 years old, 1.5 years, and 2.28 years, according to the study published in the European Heart Journal, were knocked off women's life expectancy, as well as men's respectively, who frequently added salt to their food, than those who never, or seldom, did.

The study authors, led by Professor Lu Qi from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, United States, said their results have several public implications.

He described their research as the first to assess the link between adding salt to diet and premature death.

Additionally, it offers novel evidence to back recommendations to adjust eating behaviors to improve health.

Overall Sodium Intake

Examining overall sodium intake is tremendously difficult as a lot of foods, specifically pre-prepared and processed foods, have higher salt levels, frequently only take a single urine test and do so, not essentially reflect normal behavior.

Moreover, foods rich in salt are frequently accompanied by foods high in potassium, like fruits and vegetables, both good for the health.

Essentially, potassium is known for protection from the danger of heart diseases and metabolic diseases like diabetes, while sodium raises the risk of conditions like cancer, stroke, and high blood pressure.

For these reasons, a similar Bioengineer.org report said, the researchers opted to look at whether or not individuals added salt to their foods at the table independently or if any salt was added during food preparation.

The Danger of Habitual Salt Intake

Professor Qi explained that adding salt to foods at the table is a typical eating behavior that is directly associated with the long-term preference of an individual for salty foods and his habitual salt intake.

Additionally, in the Western diet, adding salt to the table accounts for six to 20 percent of salt intake and provides a unique approach to evaluating the link between habitual sodium intake and the danger of death.

The study investigators assessed data from over 500,000 individuals participating in the United Kingdom Biobank study.

As well as discovering that always adding salt to foods was associated with a higher risk of premature death from all causes and a reduced life expectancy, the study authors discovered that such risks are inclined to be decreased slightly in individuals who ate the highest amounts of fruits and vegetables, though such outcomes were not statistically substantial.

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