Cut Salt for Heart Health: Need More Proof?

If you’ve had a stroke, cutting back on salt may reduce your risk of having another one.

This open label study included 15,249 people who had experienced a stroke. While some of them continued to use regular salt, some of them used a salt substitute that was made up of 75% sodium and 25% potassium.

The question was, Would that small reduction in salt and increase in potassium reduce the risk or recurrent stroke and death? The answer was that it did!

Over a follow up period of 61.2 months, systolic blood pressure was reduced in the substitute salt group. Crucially, the risk of having another stroke was a significant 14% lower in the salt substitute group than in the salt group. Risk of hemorrhagic stroke was reduced by a significant 30%. The risk of dying was a significant 12% lower in the salt substitute group, including a significant 21% reduced risk of dying from stroke.

This study adds important evidence that reducing salt safely reduces the risk of stroke recurrence and death.

JAMA Cardiol. Online February 05, 2025;doi:10.1001/jamacardio.2024.5417.

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