Ensuring a diet is healthful entails getting the correct quantity of nutrients and minerals, while also making sure that you’re not overeating salt (most typically from sodium).
Dietary Guidelines for Americans characterize the daily sodium intake for adults and recommend less than 2,300 milligrams.
In actuality, however, the average American consumes roughly 3,400 milligrams of sodium per day, according to the FDA.
While the aforementioned guidelines might already encourage you to cut back on the amount of sodium in your diet, a new study may give you another reason to put down the salt shaker.
Researchers recently found that reducing your sodium intake by 1,000 milligrams per day could help prevent heart disease and stroke.
The Study Results Are In: Find Out What They Mean For You
This study is initially shocking because of the large numbers that it predicts could be impacted by lowering sodium intake, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Certified Dietitian with RET Physical Therapy Group, tells Eat This, Not That!
When you read a number like 9 million that is a significant amount of cardiovascular events to prevent by lowering sodium intake by 1,000 milligrams.
While it’s promising to see the results found that so many people could be positively affected by reducing their sodium intake, McDermott cautions that there are some caveats to the study.
However, when you dive more into the study, you understand that the data was collected over a small period of time and then applied to a model to show possible trends to project future impacts.
It does not show us a true cause and effect relationship over time that the decrease in blood pressure
So that aside, it is still showing a promising result for overall health improvement and preventative care, as the relationship between sodium and systolic blood pressure has been well established.
Reduce Your Sodium Intake Without Sacrificing Flavor
Although the results of this study are predictive because the study looked at a conceptual model rather than an interventional clinical trial, this study still provides scientific support for the prevention of excessive sodium consumption.
Changing one’s diet to avoid 1,000 milligrams of sodium per day can protect against heart disease and stroke.
If you’d like to cut 1,000 milligrams of sodium out of your daily diet, few suggestions regarding how to do that, noting that removing two hot dogs, two tortillas, or five slices of deli ham from your daily menu will do the trick.
The same goes for one cup of Campbell’s Tomato soup and half a cup of salsa (“depending on the brand”). Read more articles on dailyrewards.