Plummeting number of deaths from heart disease linked to fall in salt consumption

Between 2003 and 2011 average salt intake in England decreased by around 15 per cent while the number of deaths from heart disease reduced by 40 per cent and stroke deaths fell by 42 per cent, their study found.

The reduction in salt intake is likely to have played a key role in the dip in deaths. But the authors cautioned that average salt consumption is still far too high and said more needs to be done to reduce it. They said that a reduction in salt reduces blood pressure – a major risk factor for heart disease.

The research, in the journal BMJ Open, measured salt intake in 3,000 people taking part in the National Diet and Nutrition Survey between 2003 and 2011.

Using urine samples for analysis, they found that during this period salt consumption decreased by 1.4g a day – a 15 per cent dip.

The authors, from Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry and Queen Mary University, London, said: “It is likely that several factors, that is, the fall in blood pressure, total cholesterol and smoking prevalence, the reduction in salt intake and the increase in the consumption of fruit and vegetables, along with improvements in the treatment of blood pressure, cholesterol and cardiovascular disease, contributed to a decrease in stroke and ischaemic heart disease mortality.

“Despite considerable progress being made on salt reduction, the mean salt intake in England was still 35 per cent higher than the recommended level of 6g/day, and 70 per cent of the adult population had a daily salt 
intake above the recommended level.”

People are more likely to 
survive a heart attack if they have an electrocardiogram (ECG) in the ambulance on the way to 
hospital, research by experts from Leeds University finds today.

Their work showed numbers of patients who died within 30 days of hospital admission was significantly lower when an ECG to record the activity of the heart had been carried out. Only around two thirds of patients have the test.