Eating too much salt more than doubles the risk of heart failure, scientists have found.

National Institute for Health in Helsinki tracked 4,630 healthy adults for 12 years
They found 20 per cent of people were eating more than 13.7 grams of salt daily
These people were twice as likely to suffer heart failure than those eating 6.8g

Ben Spencer, Medical Correspondent For The Daily Mail

Published:
01:20 BST, 28 August 2017

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Updated:
01:25 BST, 28 August 2017

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Eating too much salt more than doubles the risk of heart failure, scientists have found.

Experts have long known that salt increases high-blood pressure – but the new research suggests it also does direct damage to the heart.

Researchers at the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Helsinki tracked 4,630 healthy adults for 12 years.

They found 20 per cent of people were eating more than 13.7 grams daily – more than double the UK guideline of no more than 6g.

Eating too much salt more than doubles the risk of heart failure, scientists have found (stock)

These people were twice as likely to suffer heart failure than those who consumed the least 20 per cent, who ate less than 6.8g.

Crucially, the researchers found the increased chance of developing heart failure was still found even when scientists accounted for high-blood pressure.

Lead researcher Professor Pekka Jousilahti said: ‘The heart does not like salt. High salt intake markedly increases the risk of heart failure.’

Heart failure, which occurs when the organ becomes too weak to pump blood efficiently round the body, affects around 900,000 people in the UK.

It results in the heart struggling to pump blood around the body, and is the leading cause of hospital admissions for over-65s.

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Around half of patients die within five years of diagnosis.

The new research, presented at the European Society of Cardiology congress in Barcelona, involved tracking salt levels in participants’ urine – a much more accurate method than the usual method of asking people what they had eaten.

Professor Jousilahti said it is up to food companies to reduce salt, because 80 per cent of salt intake comes from processed food, with only 20 per cent added at the dinner table.

He said: ‘We need legislation, we need education and we need co-operation from the producers.’

Experts have long known that salt increases high-blood pressure – but new research suggests it also does direct damage to the heart (crumpets have a large amount of salt content)

People in Britain have cut their daily salt consumption by almost 1g over the past decade.

In 2014, people consumed was 8g daily, according to the latest official statistics, down from 8.8g in 2005/06.

Professor Graham MacGregor, an expert in cardiovascular medicine at Queen Mary University of London and chairman of the Consensus Action on Salt and Health campaign group, said: ‘This is a very important study. It is a powerful message that we need to be more ambitious in cutting salt from our diet.

‘We have an ageing population and heart failure is becoming increasingly common. And it is a terrible way to die, I would rather die of cancer than heart failure.’

Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, medical director at the British Heart Foundation, added: ‘We need to consume some salt in our diet but most western diets have salt intakes much greater than the amount required to be healthy.

‘There is a clear relationship between eating too much salt and your risk of having high blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

‘This study shows that eating too much salt is also linked with increased risk of heart failure, a debilitating and irreversible condition. More research is needed but this research provides further evidence of the potential danger of having too much salt in your diet.’

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