Salty food leads to disease

High blood pressure is the biggest single risk factor in deaths from strokes, heart attacks and kidney disease. Salt is a major factor in raising blood pressure and therefore reducing salt intake is a vital part of reducing our risk.

The World Hypertension League launched this message with World Hypertension Day, an event that took place across 40 different countries.

In many countries average daily salt intake is around 12 grams – more than double the daily maximum recommended by the World Health Organisation.

Junk food contains large amounts of salt but halving our salt intake could save around 2.5 million people a year from premature death.

It is therefore vital that we change our eating habits.

In addition to cutting down on salt, taking regular exercise and maintaining a healthy weight are also important for staving off strokes, heart attacks and other diseases including cancer.

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tags: Health, Medicine