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Salt cutback can reduce heart attack risk

Cutting back strongly on salt can reduce the risk of a heart attack by up to a quarter according to a 15 year study on the effects of salt on health carried out by researchers at the Harvard Medical School.

The study – the first to confirm the link between high salt intake and cardiovascular disease – involved more than 3,000 adults aged 30-54 who had early symptoms of high blood pressure. Some volunteers cut their salt intake by 25 to 35 percent while a control group did not reduce salt intake.

Fifteen years later the researchers found that those who reduced their salt intake were 25% less likely to have experienced a heart attack or stroke. They also had a 20% lower risk of premature death.

Commenting on the study, which was published in the British Medical Journal, Professor Garry Jennings, of the Baker Heart Research Institute in Melbourne, said that any added salt posed a health risk. The only way to avoid excess salt was to have a diet based on fresh food, but “the problem is that 80% of the salt we use is added during the commercial preparation of food”, Professor Jennings said.

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