A recent analysis showed over 1.6 million cardiovascular-related deaths are linked to consumption of over the World Health Organization's recommendation of 2,000 milligrams per day.
Researchers looked at populations across 187 countries to make their findings. The research was published in the August 14 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine.
"High sodium intake is known to increase blood pressure, a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases including heart disease and stroke," said first and corresponding author Dariush Mozaffarian, M.D., Dr.P.H., dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, who led the research while at the Harvard School of Public Health. "However, the effects of excess sodium intake on cardiovascular diseases globally by age, sex, and nation had not been well established."
The researchers looked at data from 205 surveys of sodium intake across counties representing three-quarters of the world's adult population. Effects of sodium on blood pressure were determined separately using pooled meta-analyses.
The team found the average level of global sodium consumption in 2010 was at about 3.95 grams per day, which is nearly double the recommended daily dose of 2.0 grams.
"These 1.65 million deaths represent nearly one in 10 of all deaths from cardiovascular causes worldwide. No world region and few countries were spared," Mozaffarian said. "These new findings inform the need for strong policies to reduce dietary sodium in the United States and across the world."
In the U.S. the average daily sodium intake was 3.6 grams, which is 80 percent higher than the amount recommended by the World Health Organization. The team determined 58,000 cardiovascular deaths each year in the U.S. are linked to excessive sodium consumption.
"We found that four out of five global deaths attributable to higher than recommended sodium intakes occurred in middle- and low-income countries," said John Powles, M.B., B.S., last author and honorary senior visiting fellow in the department of public health and primary care at the University of Cambridge. "Programs to reduce sodium intake could provide a practical and cost effective means for reducing premature deaths in adults around the world."
