Adding salt on served food linked to premature death – Study

A study by Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans found that adding salt on food at the table could lead to early death.

In a study involving more than 500,000 participants in the UK, researchers found that seasoning food at the table reduces the life expectancy of a man by two years and that of a woman by one and a half years.

Those who always seasoned their food had a 28% increased risk of dying prematurely compared to those who never or rarely added salt.

 “To my knowledge, our study is the first to assess the relation between adding salt to foods and premature death,” said the University’s Proffesor Lu Qi of Tulane.

The professor argued that a modest reduction in sodium intake, by adding less or no salt to food at the table could result in substantial health benefits.

"Adding salt to foods at the table is a common eating behaviour that is directly related to an individual's long-term preference for salty-tasting foods and habitual salt intake," added Prof Lu Qi.

However, the researchers found that these risks caused by the behavioural consumption of food reduced slightly in people who consumed the highest amounts of fruit and vegetables.