Salt is an important element that adds taste to your meal. No delicacy is complete until it strikes a right balance of salt with other spices. But taking an extra pinch of salt can cost you your heart health. Recent studies have found that excess salt consumption can lead to serious heart events such as hypertension, increased heart rate and even stroke. Many cardiologists across the world recommend decreasing sodium consumption to prevent heart events. World Health Organisation recommends salt intake of not more than 5 gm a day to maintain heart health.

With rapid changes in the dietary habits, people are more reliant on processed foods, fast foods and easy takeaways.

Research studies have found that packed and fast foods such as wafers, burger, fries and pickles contain a lot of salt. These foods induce hunger and make us desire for more of it. Reducing the intake of salt and restricting it to the recommended limit can be one of the most convenient and cost-effective ways to prevent the risk of hypertension, heart attack and stroke. Several studies have found that excess salt consumption is one of the major causes of stroke and heart attacks in people. The risk of heart attack had significantly reduced when dietary salt consumption was lowered.

In order to curb your salt cravings, reduce the consumption of foods that are processed using high salt content such as butter, cheese and pickles. Reducing the consumption of wafers and snacks can help reduce your caloric load and manage your dietary plan. Choose normal salt rather than variants of salts such as low-sodium salt.

These are not a healthy option as they can cause sodium deficiency in the body and can cause dizziness, fatigue and nausea.

Source: Journal of the American College of

Cardiology, 2024