One in three Australian adults have high blood pressure (hypertension). Excess salt (sodium) increases the chance of high blood pressure, so all people affected by hypertension are advised to limit salt of their eating regimen.
But despite the a long time of strong recommendations we now have lost urge Australians to reduce their consumption. People find it difficult to change the way in which they cook, season food in another way, select low-salt products from supermarket shelves and accept less salty tastes.
Now there is an easy and effective solution: salt enriched with potassium. It may be used identical to regular salt and most people won’t notice a major difference in taste.
Switching to potassium-enriched salt is feasible in a way that doesn’t allow you to limit your salt intake. Our recent research summarizes Clinical guidelines on hypertension should give patients clear recommendations on how to change their treatment.
What is potassium-enriched salt?
Potassium-enriched salts replace among the sodium chloride that makes up regular salt with potassium chloride. They are also called low sodium salt, potassium salt, heart salt, mineral salt or reduced sodium salt.
Potassium chloride looks the identical as sodium chloride and tastes very similar.
Potassium-enriched salt lowers blood pressure not only since it reduces sodium intake, but in addition because increases potassium intake. Insufficient potassium, which comes mainly from vegatables and fruits, is one other necessary reason for high blood pressure.
What is the evidence?
We have strong evidence from A randomized trial of 20,995 people said that switching to potassium-enriched salt lowered blood pressure and reduced the chance of stroke, heart attack and premature death. Participants had a history of stroke or were 60 years of age or older and had high blood pressure.
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overview 21 other studies suggest that a big proportion of the world’s population may gain advantage from potassium-enriched salt.
World Health Organization for 2023 world report on hypertension highlighted potassium-enriched salt as a “low-cost strategy” for lowering blood pressure and stopping cardiovascular events equivalent to strokes.
What should clinical guidelines say?
We partnered with researchers from the United States, Australia, Japan, South Africa and India to review 32 clinical guidelines for the treatment of high blood pressure all over the world. Our findings are as follows published today within the American Heart Association journal, Hypertension.
We found that current guidelines do not provide clear and consistent advice on the use of potassium-enriched salt.
Although many guidelines recommend increasing dietary potassium intake and all refer to limiting sodium intake, only two guidelines – Chinese and European – recommend the use of potassium-enriched salt.
To make sure that the rules reflect the most recent evidence, we now have suggested specific wordings that could possibly be adopted in Australia and all over the world:
Why do so few people use it?
Most people do not realize how much salt they devour and the health problems it might probably cause. Few people know that simply switching to potassium-enriched salt can help lower blood pressure and reduce the chance of stroke and heart disease.
Limited availability is one other challenge. A few Australian retailers carry potassium-fortified salt, but normally just one brand is on the market and it is commonly found on the underside shelf or in a dedicated food aisle.
Potassium-enriched salts also cost greater than regular salt, although they’re still low cost compared to most other foods and never as expensive as a lot of the flowery salts currently available.
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A 2021 review found that potassium-enriched salts were only sold in European Union countries 47 countries and these were mainly high-income countries. Prices ranged from the identical as regular salt to almost 15 times higher.
Although potassium-enriched salt is mostly dearer, it has potential highly profitable to prevent diseases.
Harm prevention
A regularly raised concern with the use of potassium-enriched salt is the chance of high levels of potassium within the blood (hyperkalemia) within the body. about 2% of the population with serious kidney disease.
People with serious kidney disease are already advised to avoid common salt and foods high in potassium.
No studies conducted to date have found any harm from potassium-enriched salt, but all studies were conducted in clinical settings with specific guidelines for people with kidney disease.
Our current priority is to get people treated for hypertension to use potassium-enriched salt because health care providers may advise against its use in people prone to hyperkalemia.
In some countries, potassium-fortified salt is beneficial to the whole community since the potential advantages are so great. Model study showed that nearly half one million strokes and heart attacks could possibly be avoided yearly in China if the population switched to potassium-enriched salt.
What will occur next?
In 2022, the Minister of Health launched National Hypertension Task Forcewhich goals to improve blood pressure control rates from 32% to 70% by 2030 in Australia.
Potassium-enriched salt can play a key role in achieving this goal. We are working with the Task Force to update the Australian Guidelines for the Management of Hypertension and promote the brand new guidelines to healthcare professionals.
At the identical time, we want more available salt enriched with potassium. We engage interested parties to increase accessibility these products throughout the country.
The world has already modified its salt supply once: from regular salt to iodized salt. Iodization efforts began within the Nineteen Twenties and took the higher a part of 100 years to gain traction. Iodization of salt prevention is a key public health achievement of the last century I prefer (a condition by which the thyroid gland enlarges) and improving the academic outcomes of thousands and thousands of the world’s poorest children because iodine is essential for proper growth and development of the brain.
Subsequent switching to iodized and potassium-enriched salt offers at the very least the identical potential for global health advantages. But we want to make it occur in a fraction of the time.