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The announcement was made at the 49th annual joint conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention and Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism, which is part of the American Heart Association (AHA).
The conference is being held in the Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club at Palm Harbor, Florida, from March 10 to 14, 2009.
The report also stated that one less gram of salt each day would also reduce the number of U.S. deaths from heart disease each decade by 200,000 cases. Although this report is directed toward the citizens of the United States, it can be applied to all people around the world.
One of the researcher of the study, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo (University of California, San Francisco), stated within the WebMD article Less Salt Will Cut Heart Disease Rate, "A very modest decrease in the amount of salt -- hardly detectable in the taste of food -- can have dramatic health benefits for the U.S. It was a surprise to see the magnitude of the impact on the population, given the very small reductions in salt we were modeling."
The Bibbins-Domingo study found that if Americans reduced their salt intake by three grams each day (three times the above mentioned rate), then such a reduction would result in 6% fewer cases of heart disease and 3% fewer deaths in the United States.
Three grams of salt is the same as 1.200 milligrams of sodium.
The reduction is even more pronounced in African-Americans-nearly twice the health benefit. The report states that three grams less salt each day in black Americans could result in 10% fewer cases of heart disease and 6% fewer deaths from heart disease.
Page two concludes with comments from U.S. researcher Dr. Bibbins-Domingo.
