An analysis by researchers at Stanford University, published in the current issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, used a computer simulation to determine how voluntary salt reduction programs could affect the general population.
They tested two models. The first was a collaboration between the U.S government and the food industry, similar to that already being used in the U.K., and the second hypothesized a tax being levied on high-salt foods.
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More than 75 percent of Americans eat more than 2,300 milligrams of salt a day, the recommended daily maximum.
The team concluded that a voluntary government-industry partnership would curb American salt intake by 9.5 percent, enough to prevent 513,000 fatal strokes and 480,000 heart attacks among adults currently between the ages of 40 and 85.
The lifesaving measure would also have massive implications for the U.S health care system, by eliminating $32.1 billion in medical costs over the lifespan of the sample age group.
Most of the health benefits would be due to a reduction in blood pressure among salt-loving Americans. Last week, the Institute of Medicine declared high blood pressure, or hypertension, "a neglected disease" that caused one in six American deaths.
More than 75 percent of Americans exceed the recommended daily consumption of 2,300 milligrams of salt. But it's less to do with how we handle the salt shaker at home. Instead, we can blame the high intake on our affinity for restaurant meals, take-out and processed grocery store items.
Source: Mayo Clinic
Those dietary habits help explain why the cooperation of the food industry is necessary for optimal salt-reduction initiatives. Levying a tax would have some benefits -- 6 percent less salt intake, and about 600,000 lives saved -- but the researchers concluded that changes would be more beneficial if they targeted the source of the problem.
Several countries have already launched so-called "population approach" programs, including Canada, Japan and Australia. Since 2003, the U.K. intervention has reduced salt levels in packaged foods by 20 to 30 percent.
In the U.S, the New York City Health Department's Salt Reduction Initiative aims to get restaurant and food manufacturers to cut sodium levels in packaged and prepared foods by 20 percent within five years.
Evidence from other countries, combined with this new research, suggests that a nationwide assault on salt could soon be under way. But consumer cooperation is key: The Stanford study concluded that the one roadblock to a successful government-food industry collaboration could be our own taste buds -- unless we're willing to give the changes some time.
"Studies of modest reductions in sodium intake suggest that consumer's preferred level of sodium consumption resets once sodium intake decreases to a new level," they write. "We suspect that any loss of quality of life due to decreased sodium intake would be temporary."
