Go easy on the salt for heart’s sake

The National Heart Foundation of Australia has released a new position paper which focuses on the associations between dietary sodium (salt) and potassium and systolic blood pressure in both hypertensive (high blood pressure) and normotensive (normal blood pressure) individuals.

It now recommends that all Australians should reduce dietary sodium to less than 2300 mg a day or the equivalent of 6g of salt a day, and increase dietary potassium.

It is also recommends that people choose plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit, a variety of unprocessed wholegrains, unprocessed meats, poultry and fish, low/reduced fat dairy products, and ‘no added salt’ or ‘low salt’ options.

Australians should avoid adding salt during cooking and at the table, limit intake of high salt foods, including takeaways and choose foods and meals with the Heart Foundation Tick.

For those with high blood pressure or at risk of cardiovascular disease the Heart Foundation also recommends reducing dietary sodium to the equivalent of 4g salt /a day, increasing dietary potassium, choosing an eating pattern that has minimal added salt, and not adding salt during cooking or at the table.

Cardio-vascular disease (heart, stroke and blood vessel disease) is a leading cause of death and a major cause of disability in Australia.

Nearly 48,000 Australians died from cardio-vascular disease (CVD) in 2004 accounting for more than one third of all deaths.

Nine out of 10 Australian adults have at least one modifiable risk factor for CVD and one in four have three or more risk factors. These include being overweight or obese, having high blood pressure, high cholesterol, not being sufficiently active, smoking and drinking at harmful levels and having diabetes.