All it takes is 1 gram per day to have 250,000 fewer new cases of heart disease and more than 200,000 fewer deaths over a 10-year period.  

 

Despite the fact that doctors know that too much salt causes heart diseases and high blood pressure, U.S. residents are consuming 50% more salt than they did in 1970s. It’s no surprise at all that the number of high blood pressure cases has risen with about the same percentage over that period. 

 

Americans eat more salt now than they did about 30 year ago mostly because they eat more processed food and more restaurant food. Over these three decades, Americans have adapted their taste buds and their bodies to require much more salt that necessary, said Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, Time.com reported. 

 

The benefits of reducing the levels of salt that we eat would be very high, especially for African-Americans, who are more exposed to high blood pressure especially through high salt levels. 

 

American residents currently consume about 9 to 12 grams of salt per day, or 3,600 to 4,800 milligrams of sodium. The salt level recommended by specialized health organization is of 5 to 6 grams per day, so we’re eating two times more salt than we need. 

 

The findings of the study, which consisted of a computer simulation of heart disease among adults in the U.S., were presented during the American Heart Association's Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention. Researchers used a computer simulation called the Coronary Heart Disease Policy Model.