'Salt intake not linked to heart disease'

'Salt intake not linked to heart disease'

TNN , Jul 7, 2011, 06.03am IST
(Source: Times of India newspaper on Internet; The following interesting news from Times of India newspaper is being posted for general awarness).
 
LONDON: For years, doctors have been saying that too much salt is bad for health. Yet, a new study claims that it's safe to eat - and cutting its intake does nothing to lower risk of having heart disease. High levels of salt have long been linked to a greater risk of developing hypertension , heart attacks and strokes. Now, researchers at the University of Exeter claim to have found evidence that although blood pressure is reduced when salt intake is cut, there're actually no longterm health benefits, the 'Daily Express' reported. They reviewed seven researches that looked at 6,489 people, which they said was a large enough set of data from which to draw conclusions. Most researches recommen ded a reduction of 50% of nor mal salt intake. A person's daily salt intake from the research papers reviewed was on average 8-9 g a day, so the reduction was to around 4g. But this had no long-term health benefit. "Encouragement to reduce salt intake did lead to a reduction in salt eaten and a small reduction in BP after six months. "What we wanted to see was whether this dietary change also reduced a person's risk suffering from cardiovascular events," author Prof Rod Taylor said.