Salt intake definitively linked to high blood pressure in older Australians
Salt intake has been linked to high blood pressure in Australian adults for the first time in new research published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
A joint Deakin University and Cancer Council Victoria study investigated blood pressure measurements and 24-hour urine collections from more than 780 older people living in the Melbourne metropolitan area.
They found that patients with high levels of sodium in their urine — a measure of daily dietary salt intake — were twice as likely to have hypertension as those with the lowest levels of sodium.
Only six men and 32 women — 4.9 per cent of the study participants — had a daily salt intake at or below the recommended upper limit of four grams a day. Participants who said they used salt in cooking had higher levels of sodium in their urine than those who didn’t.
“This is one of the few within-population studies and the first study in Australian adults to demonstrate a positive association between urinary sodium or sodium-to-potassium ratio and systolic blood pressure,” Dr Catherine Huggins from Monash University said.
“Our findings provide supporting evidence that the current high intake of sodium in older adults in Australia is related to higher blood pressure. This has been difficult to demonstrate within populations because the urinary sodium–blood pressure relationship within a community is affected by regression dilution bias, as daily sodium excretion can vary considerably within individuals and blood pressure varies throughout the day.”
It is difficult for individuals to effectively reduce their dietary sodium intake as more than three-quarters of total intake is from sodium present in purchased foods, Dr Huggins said.
In an accompanying editorial, Professor Bruce Neal of the George Institute for Global Health said that the issue was no longer whether salt reduction should be a goal, but how to achieve it.
“The Australian Government simply needs to set and enforce salt targets for foods, as has been done in the United Kingdom. With a proven overseas model to follow, our failure to take the action required is bordering on negligent,” Prof Neal said.
“No one is going to lose their parliamentary seat and no one is going to go out of business if they make this happen. There are just going to be a lot of unnecessary strokes and heart attacks while the people pickling us figure this out.”
The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.
The statements or opinions that are expressed in the MJA reflect the views of the authors and do not represent the official policy of the AMA unless that is so stated.
CONTACT: Dr Catherine Huggins 0413 560 484
Ms Mandi O’Garretty 0418 361 890
Media Coordinator, Deakin University
