Popular condiment increases your risk of dying young by 28%, scientists warn

WHEN you sit down to eat your dinner, what condiment do you reach for first? If you’re likely to use salt at meal times, you’ll be sad to hear your risk of premature death is higher. We already know that too much salt in the diet is bad for you. The NHS recommends no more […]

WHEN you sit down to eat your dinner, what condiment do you reach for first?

If you’re likely to use salt at meal times, you’ll be sad to hear your risk of premature death is higher.

Getty

Row of jars with spices[/caption]

We already know that too much salt in the diet is bad for you.

The NHS recommends no more than one teaspoon per day, including in pre-made foods and when cooking. 

Salt increases blood pressure, which in turn raises the odds of a potentially deadly stroke or heart attack, and the risk of cancer.

But a new study is the first to tease apart the impact of salt added to food at meal times, as opposed to total salt intake.

Researchers at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, studied half a million Brits aged between 40 and 69.

When they joined the study, the participants were asked whether they added salt to their food, with the answers being; never/rarely, sometimes, usually or always.

They were followed up an average of nine years later.

Compared to those who never or rarely added salt, those who always added salt to their food had a 28 per cent increased risk of dying prematurely, defined as before the age of 75.

It equates to around one additional death in a group of 100 people aged 40 to 69.

Life expectancy was lower among those who always added salt to their food, compared to those who never or rarely did.

At the age of 50, 1.5 years and 2.28 years were knocked off the life expectancy of women and men, respectively, according to the findings published in the European Heart Journal. 

Researchers, led by Professor Lu Qi, had taken account of factors that influence death, such as age, weight, gender, smoking and drinking and health conditions.

The risks of early death among those who ate the most salt tended to be reduced slightly in people who consumed the highest amounts of fruit and vegetables.

“We were not surprised by this finding as fruits and vegetables are major sources of potassium, which has protective effects and is associated with a lower risk of premature death,” said Prof Qi.

“To my knowledge, our study is the first to assess the relation between adding salt to foods and premature death,” he said. 

“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.”

High salt foods include staples in many homes, including cheese, prawns, ham, gravy granules, smoked fish, soy sauce and more.

Packaged foods such as soup, sandwiches, breakfast cereals, and tomato ketchup can be very high in salt, so it’s worth checking labels and comparing products.