Do your heart a favor ?eat less salt 少吃點鹽 有益心臟

You probably get lots of advice on how to eat healthily. But it seems the simplest advice may also turn out to be some of the most important — eat less salt.

Two studies started in the 1990s among 3,000 adults aged 30-54. These people showed signs of developing high blood pressure at the time.

Some volunteers cut down the amount of salt they ate by just 25-30 percent. A control group did not cut down on salt.

Ten to 15 years later, salt-cutters were 25 percent less likely to have heart problems and 20 percent less likely to have died.

This shows that cutting back on salt not only helps with blood pressure, but with all kinds of heart problems.

Doctors suggested eating less than 2.5g of salt a day, or about a teaspoon.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Western countries and a growing problem elsewhere. (Jason Cox, Staff Writer with AFP)

你大概聽過諸多健康飲食的建議。不過，最簡單的或許也是最重要的—少吃點鹽巴。

有兩項自一九九○年代起進行的研究，對象為三千位年齡介於三十到五十四歲的成年人。當時他們都有高血壓症狀。

部分自願者降低百分之二十五到三十的鹽攝取量。另一對照組則未減少鹽攝取。

十到十五年之後，少吃鹽的人罹患心臟病的比率降低了百分之二十五，死亡率則降低了百分之二十。

這顯示出，減少鹽攝取量不只對高血壓有幫助，對心臟病也有益。

醫師建議民眾每日減少二點五公克（約一茶匙）的鹽。

心臟病是西方國家的第一死因，在世界各地都有成長跡象。

（翻譯︰賴美君）