Salt has been the focus of attention of doctors, nutritionists and health researchers for many years. By the way, rightfully so. Especially since it has been shown to reduce (actively and passively) salt intake, it is one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to reduce the incidence of diseases such as high blood pressure, coronary heart disease or stroke.

And yet, we still have a lot to investigate.

A tradition that takes years. For example, although salt is one of the social practices most linked to consumption, the relationship between adding salt to food and premature death has never been studied. Now a group of researchers from the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans has done just that, and the results are pretty alarming.

Trouble knowing how much salt we’re consuming Using the UK Biobank’s very extensive database in the UK, the researchers were able to study half a million Britons over six years. It’s really hard to control your salt intake. To give us an idea: according to current research, about 70% of the salt consumed by the Western population comes from processed foods and about 20% comes from table salt.

This 70% is not easy to measure on an individual level (hence the term ‘secret salt’) and even biometric tests (like urine tests) are not very accurate when it comes to determining consumption. However, 500,000 study participants have been filling out regular questionnaires about whether they add salt to food since 2006. These data (with all the exceptions a survey-based study has) allow us to approximate the remaining 20%.

The years we stopped living. And what the researchers found is that salt is added to table foods once we factor in the influence of age, ethnicity, body mass index, smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, diet, and other factors, such as certain medical conditions, certain medical conditions. It is associated with a reduction in life expectancy of more than two years in men and about one and a half years in women.

beyond salt. The researchers explain that it’s important to keep in mind that it’s not just about salt. In fact, there is ample evidence that high salt intake is often indicative of a less healthy lifestyle. Still, the data are pretty impressive, and as study coordinator Lu Qi says, “Even a modest reduction in sodium intake by adding less or no salt to table food will likely lead to significant health benefits.” health, especially in the general population.

Big salt problem. The problem is that reducing salt intake is very difficult. Dr. It should be noted that Isabel Roig’s Barcelona team has warned for years that awareness campaigns have had little effect and that, regardless of consumer information, final salt consumption is very homogeneous in the population.

The editing way seems most effective, yes. But this type of study shows that there is a part that cannot be ignored that is linked to individual action. It can’t be ignored, but we’ve been doing it for a long time.

Image | emmy smith