Computer Models Show Significant Long-Term Health Benefit Of Reducing Sodium Consumption

U.S. scientists who used three different computer models to project the overall impact of steady annual reductions (totaling 40 percent) of sodium consumption in the U.S. diet found that between 280,000 to 500,000 lives could be saved over 10 years. The optimum scenario would reduce sodium consumption to about 2,200 mg/day. Three research groups took different approaches for their simulations: one used observational cardiovascular outcome follow-up data; the other two inferred the cardiovascular effects of reducing sodium from data about the relationship of blood pressure to cardiovascular disease. “All three methods consistently show a substantial health benefit for reductions in dietary sodium,” the researchers concluded.