Cutting sodium consumption could yield considerable health benefits
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Study results published in Hypertension indicate that reducing the amount of sodium in the typical US diet could save 280,000 to 500,000 lives during the next decade.
Three research groups used three different approaches to analyze the effect of decreased sodium intake on the US population during the next 10 years. The first group examined the direct effects of lower sodium consumption on CVD mortality. The second and third groups assessed indirect effects mediated by BP changes as observed in randomized controlled trials of antihypertensive medications and epidemiological studies, respectively. All groups analyzed these effects in the context of the following scenarios: a gradual uniform reduction of 40% during the next 10 years (scenario A); an instantaneous 40% reduction sustained for 10 years to achieve a population-wide mean of 2,200 mg per day (scenario B); and an instantaneous reduction to 1,500 mg per day sustained for 10 years (scenario C).
Pamela Coxson
“The research groups used the same target populations and baseline death rates for each projection, and our study found that the different sources of evidence for the cardiovascular effects of sodium led to similar projected outcomes,” lead researcher Pamela Coxson, PhD, a mathematics specialist in the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said in a press release.
Data suggest that instantaneous reduction of sodium intake to the ideal 1,500 mg per day, as seen with scenario C, would result in an approximately 10% decrease in CVD deaths when only BP-mediated effects were considered and more than 20% when data from the Trials of Hypertension Prevention were taken into account. These results translate to an estimated 350,000 to 900,000 fewer CHD-related deaths and 100,000 to 190,000 fewer stroke-related deaths in the next 10 years, the researchers wrote.
However, an instantaneous 40% reduction in sodium consumption, as observed in scenario B, would lower net total mortality by 25% to 30% compared with scenario C. A gradual reduction to an average intake of 2,200 mg per day, as seen with scenario A, which is considered the most feasible scenario, the researchers said, would result in 280,000 to 500,000 fewer deaths in the next 10 years. These data suggest a 4% to 10% reduction in CHD and stroke mortality and a 1.5% to 3% reduction in total mortality.
“These findings strengthen our understanding that sodium reduction is beneficial to people at all ages. Even small, gradual reductions in sodium intake would result in substantial mortality benefits across the population,” Coxson said.
“Such gradual reductions could be achieved through a combination of consumer education and food labeling, but should likely also include regulation to assure that sodium options are available for US consumers,” study researcher Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, associate professor of medicine at UCSF and director of the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations, said in the press release.
For more information:
Coxson PG. Hypertension. 2013;61:564-570.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.