Avoiding salt in meals may cut heart attack, stroke risk by 20 per cent

Eating a saltfree diet can reduce your risk of cardiovascular diseases like heart attack and stroke by almost a fifth finds a studyAccording to the study led by researchers from the Kyungpook National University Hospital in South Korea people who always add salt to their foods are 22 per cent more likely to suffer atrial fibrillation than those who never 18 per cent or sometimes 15 per cent add itAtrial fibrillation is an irregular and often very rapid heart rhythm arrhythmia that can lead to blood clots in the heart It increases the risk of stroke heart failure and other heartrelated complications People with AF are five times more likely to have a strokeldquoOur study indicates that lower frequency of adding salt to foods was associated with lower risk of AFrdquo said lead author Yoon Jung Park of Kyungpook National University HospitalFor the study presented at the European Society of Cardiology conference held in Amsterdam last week the team examined data from 395682 British people aged 40 to 70 who were followed for 11 years The findings also suggest that switching diet from always adding salt to ldquousuallyrdquo adding it reduced the risk of AF by 12 per centldquoItrsquos well known that eating too much salt can lead to health problems including high blood pressure As well as increasing your risk of having a heart attack or stroke high blood pressure can also cause damage to your heart and this in turn can cause atrial fibrillationrdquo said Prof James Leiper of the British Heart FoundationSodium is an essential nutrient but eating too much salt makes it the top risk factor for diet and nutritionrelated deaths The main source of sodium is table salt sodium chloride but it is also contained in other condiments such as sodium glutamateEarlier in March the World Health Organization WHO had called on countries to make lsquomassive effortsrsquo to reduce peoplersquos salt intake that can prevent the risk of heart problems stroke and cancersIn a firstofitskind global report on sodium intake reduction the global health body noted that the world is offtrack to achieve its global target of reducing sodium intake by 30 per cent by 2025The report shows that only 5 per cent countries are protected by mandatory and comprehensive sodium reduction policies while 73 per cent including India lack full range of implementation of such policiesImplementing highly costeffective sodium reduction policies could save an estimated seven million lives globally by 2030 the WHO saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever