005 Less Salt Can Mean More Life

Less Salt Can Mean More Life

 

Even a small reduction in salt in the diet can be a big help to the heart. A new study used a computer model to predict how just 3 grams less a day would affect heart disease in the United States.

 

The result: 13% fewer heart attacks. 8% fewer strokes. 4% fewer deaths. 11% fewer new cases of heart disease. And $240,000,000,000 in health care savings.

 

Researchers found it could prevent 100,000 heart attacks and 92,000 deaths every year.

 

The study is in the New England Journal of Medicine. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo at the University of California San Francisco, was the lead author. She says people would not even notice a difference in taste with 3 grams, or 1/2 teaspoon, less salt per day. The team also included researchers at Stanford and Columbia University.

 

Each gram of salt contains 400 milligrams of sodium, which is how foods may list their salt content.

参考译文：

甚至降低一点盐的摄入都会对心脏有很大帮助。美国一项新的研究用电脑模块预测每天减少三克盐的摄入会对心脏疾病造成怎样的影响。

结果：会减少13%的心脏病，8%的中风，4%的死亡人数，11%的新增心脏病病例，并且会节约2400亿的医疗费用。

研究人员还发现这能每年防止10万人得心脏病和减少9.2万人死亡人数。

这一研究报告发表在新英格兰医学期刊上。来自加州大学旧金山分校的克里斯汀·比宾斯多明哥是主笔者。她说人们甚至不会意识到每天吃三克或半勺盐或者说更少的盐这其中的差别。同时，这个团队里还有来自斯坦福大学和哥伦比亚大学的研究人员。

每克食盐中含有400毫克的钠，人们可以通过含钠量来计算食品的含盐量。