Salt and health/Bibliography

Please sort and annotate in a user-friendly manner. For formatting, consider using automated reference wikification.

• Smith-Spangler CM, Juusola JL, Enns EA, Owens DK, Garber AM. (2010) Population strategies to decrease sodium intake and the burden of cardiovascular disease: a cost-effectiveness analysis. Ann Intern Med 152:481-3.
  • From the Abstract: Strategies to reduce sodium intake on a population level in the United States are likely to substantially reduce stroke and MI incidence, which would save billions of dollars in medical expenses.
    • Accompanying Editorial: Frieden TR, Briss PA. (2010) We can reduce dietary sodium, save money, and save lives. Ann Intern Med 152:526-7, W182.

• Pimenta E, Gaddam KK, Oparil S et al. (2009) Effects of dietary sodium reduction on blood pressure in subjects with resistant hypertension: results from a randomized trial. Hypertension 54:475-81.
  • From the Abstract: The present study examined the effects of dietary salt restriction on office and 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure in subjects with [drug-]resistant hypertension…Low- [50 mmol/day] compared to high- [250 mmol/day] salt diet decreased office systolic and diastolic blood pressure by 22.7 and 9.1 mm Hg, respectively. These results indicate that excessive dietary sodium ingestion contributes importantly to resistance to antihypertensive treatment. Strategies to substantially reduce dietary salt intake should be part of the overall treatment of resistant hypertension.

• Bibbins-Domingo K, Chertow GM, Coxson PG et al. (2010) Projected effect of dietary salt reductions on future cardiovascular disease. N Engl J Med 362:590-9.
  • From the Abstract:  Reducing dietary salt by 3 g per day [= ~50 mmol/day] is projected to reduce the annual number of new cases of CHD [coronary heart disease] by 60,000 to 120,000, stroke by 32,000 to 66,000, and myocardial infarction by 54,000 to 99,000 and to reduce the annual number of deaths from any cause by 44,000 to 92,000. All segments of the population would benefit, with blacks benefiting proportionately more, women benefiting particularly from stroke reduction, older adults from reductions in CHD events, and younger adults from lower mortality rates. A regulatory intervention designed to achieve a reduction in salt intake of 3 g per day would save 194,000 to 392,000 quality-adjusted life-years and $10 billion to $24 billion in health care costs annually. Such an intervention would be cost-saving even if only a modest reduction of 1 g per day were achieved gradually between 2010 and 2019 and would be more cost-effective than using medications to lower blood pressure in all persons with hypertension. Modest reductions in dietary salt could substantially reduce cardiovascular events and medical costs and should be a public health target.