SYDNEY, Aug. 10, 2022 (BSS/Xinhua) - Eating salt substitutes could lower the
risks of early death from cardiovascular diseases, according to a new study
by an international research team including Australian and Chinese experts.

 Bruce Neal, executive director of the George Institute for Global Health and
Professor of Medicine at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), told
Xinhua on Wednesday that the use of salt substitutes, which contain potassium
chloride instead of sodium chloride, has the potential to "save millions of
lives worldwide every year."

"High blood pressure is a major risk for an early death and a diet high in
sodium and low in potassium is known to drive up blood pressure," he said.
The report, published in the journal Heart and revealed on Wednesday, found
that salt substitutes lowered the risks of early death from cardiovascular
diseases by 13 percent, and the risks of heart attacks or strokes by 11
percent.

 The research team, which includes scientists from the Harbin Medical
University in China, conducted a major study published last year involving
about 20,000 people in rural China, where half the people used salt
substitutes in their diets while the others continued with regular salt. Neal
said that the study, the largest ever of its kind, clearly showed the health
benefits, but the researchers were not sure if similar results would apply to
other parts of the world.

To answer that question, the team then trawled through data taken from more
than 20 smaller international studies looking into the connection between
salt substitutes and reduced early deaths.

The pooled data confirmed that the potassium salt lowered blood pressure
irrespective of people's ages, weight, gender or ethnicities. "I'm really
excited about these findings," Neal told Xinhua. "It's something I have been
working on for 20 years and I think, finally, the time might be right to get
the message across."

 "It's true that potassium salt is slightly more expensive than sodium salt
but, in the overall cost of making a product, that difference is tiny but the
health results are huge."

"We've seen in recent decades how salt production can be changed for public
health reasons. Iodized salt, for example, was introduced to prevent diseases
of the thyroid gland. So, a similar move could be made to take sodium out and
put potassium in," said Neal.