Salt substitutes can help prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths, research claims

Salt substitutes can help prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide. If, for instance, salt substitutes are introduced in China to lower blood pressure, about 460,000 deaths from cardiovascular diseases per year can be prevented, including 208,000 due to stroke and 175,000 due to heart disease, said experts from the George Global Health Institute in Australia.

According to Xinhua, salt substitutes can also reduce the incidence of chronic kidney disease by about 120,000 a year.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 30% of deaths worldwide are caused by cardiovascular diseases, the main risk factor of which is hypertension, which in turn is often the result of a diet high in salt.

According to experts, the transition from ordinary household salt to potassium-enriched salt substitutes can save nearly half a million lives in a year in China alone as there is a relatively high consumption of sodium.

Salt substitutes contain less sodium chloride than a regular salt (approximately 70% sodium and 30% potassium chloride). This ratio provides the greatest health benefits, while the difference in taste remains invisible to most people.

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