Lowering Sodium in Everyday Foods Could Help Prevent Heart Disease, Stroke: Study - Video

Two recent studies published in Hypertension show that reducing sodium in packaged and prepared foods could have major health benefits in France and the United Kingdom. Eating too much salt is a key risk factor for high blood pressure, which increases the chance of heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease, and other cardiovascular problems.

In France, a voluntary agreement with bakeries aims to cut salt in baguettes and other bread products by 2025. Bread is a major source of daily salt, often contributing about a quarter of a person’s intake. Modeling suggests that if these targets are fully met, each person’s daily sodium intake could drop by 0.35 grams.

Even this small reduction could have a large impact: around 1,186 deaths could be avoided each year, hospitalizations for ischemic heart disease could fall by 1.04%, and strokes could decrease by almost 1%. Men and adults aged 55–64 are expected to benefit the most.

In the U.K., researchers looked at packaged foods and takeaway meals, setting sodium-reduction goals for 108 categories, including bread, meats, snacks, and restaurant dishes, by 2024. Meeting these targets could lower the average daily salt intake from 6.1 grams to 4.9 grams per person.

Over 20 years, this could prevent roughly 103,000 cases of ischemic heart disease and 25,000 strokes. The modeling also predicts about 243,000 additional quality-adjusted life years—a measure of healthy life gained—and £1 billion in savings for the National Health Service.

Importantly, these benefits could be achieved without requiring individuals to change their eating habits, as the reformulations would occur in the food itself.

Experts say that working with the food industry and enforcing sodium-reduction policies is a simple yet highly effective strategy to improve public health, reduce healthcare costs, and save thousands of lives in both countries.

REFERENCE: Grave, Carcaillon-Bentata, Laure; Bonaldi, Christophe; From French Gastronomy to Cardiovascular Health: Cutting Salt in the Baguette Has Saved Thousands of Lives in France; Hypertension; doi:10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.125.25977; https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.125.25977