Less Salty Diets Would Save Millions of Lives

A new study has reported that millions of lives could be saved if the overall salt intake worldwide is cut by 10%. To achieve this goal, government-led public service campaigns could be carried out, costing only approximately S$0.14/person.

According to the World Health Organization, most adults exceed the recommended maximum salt intake of 2gm/day, resulting in 1.65 million deaths due to heart disease annually.

The study which analysed 183 nations, took into account one’s age, gender, costs and health effects. Researchers also tallied the number of years lost due to poor health, which could have been prevented with a salt-reduced diet.

They concluded that the cost for each year of healthy life gained was roughly the same as what is currently spent on preventive cardiovascular disease drugs.