Studies show that one simple alternative to salt can save millions of lives.

In the kitchen, salt feels like a cheat. While adding the right amount of salt instantly improves the flavor of almost all delicious dishes, this cheap and abundant ingredient has distinct drawbacks.

Simply put Too much salt is bad for you..More specifically, too much sodium is bad for you, and sodium is one of the two main components that make up a salt (also known as a compound). Sodium chloride).

Many previous studies have investigated the association between dietary sodium excess levels and health problems. Increased risk of cardiovascular disease..

At the same time, other studies plot the health effects of Potassium deficient in people’s diet, This also has a negative effect on blood pressure.

It happens that one product commonly available in many supermarkets can alleviate both of these problems at the same time. Salt substitute Designed to taste like salt, it has lower sodium levels and higher potassium levels.

Despite the promise of salt substitutes, however, there was a major shortage Clinical trial As it measures the effects on stroke, heart disease, and death, the question remains as to how effective they are.

Now, Huge research What has been done in China seems to suggest that almost everyone will benefit from making the switch.

“Most people in the world eat more salt than they should.” To tell Bruce Neill, a clinical epidemiologist at the George Institute for Global Health in Australia.

“If salt is switched to salt substitutes around the world, millions of premature deaths will be prevented each year.”

In this study, Neil and his team surveyed more than 20,000 villagers from rural China and recruited participants with a history of stroke or hypotension. People came from a total of 600 villages, with an average age of about 65 at the start of the trial.

In the experiment, half of the participants were provided with free salt substitutes for use during the test process (designed as a five-year experiment, but COVID-19 (New Coronavirus Infection) Pandemic).

The salt substitutes they were given were low in sodium, added potassium, and were recommended to be used more conservatively than regular salts in order to maximize overall sodium reduction.

Meanwhile, the other half of the villagers acted as controls and continued to use salt to prepare their dishes and meals as they always did.

At the end of the study, there was a striking contrast between the health results of these two groups.

Overall, about five years after the start of the experiment, more than 4,000 participants died, more than 3,000 experienced strokes, and more than 5,000 had some major cardiovascular event. It’s a sad and unfortunate result, but it’s not unexpected given age. And health at the start of the exam.

However, in the results, the salt replacement group was significantly less likely to experience a stroke than regular salt consumers (29.14 events per 1,000 vs. 33.65 events). Man-year), And major cardiovascular events (49.09 events vs. 56.29 events), and death (39.28 events vs. 44.61 events) are less likely.

Researchers say their results are effectively confirmed Previous modeling in ChinaSuggested that salt substitutions implemented at the national level could save an estimated 460,000 lives each year simply by preventing premature deaths associated with the health effects of sodium overdose.

By extension-and this part is a hypothesis-researchers say that if people around the world switch from regular salt to healthier, slightly adjusted alternatives, the same simple alternatives will be in the millions each year. It suggests that it will save lives.

One of the potential barriers to identifying these protective effects can be due to the different ways food is manufactured in different countries.

“In rural China … processed foods are not commonly used. Sodium chloride is added during the preparation of meals in each home,” said Julie, a pediatrician at Massachusetts General Hospital who was not involved in the study. R. Ingelfinger I will explain in the explanation of the research..

“In contrast, in much of the world, commercial food preservation adds a lot of sodium chloride to the diet, and the use of salt substitutes does not make up the majority of salt intake.”

One answer might be to substitute salt not only in home kitchens, but also in industrial kitchens where commercially manufactured processed foods are manufactured.

In terms of cost, it’s not as big a difference as researchers say, and the cost of alternative salt is about 50% higher, but how cheap regular salt is (about US $ 1.08 per kilogram in China), what you need for cooking. Making alternatives is fairly affordable, especially given the benefits, given how few things are available.

“Alternative salt is a bit more expensive than regular salt, but it’s still very low cost. It costs only a few dollars a year to make the switch.” Neil says..

“This is one of the most valuable studies I have ever been involved in.”

Survey results will be reported at NEJM..