Top Things to Know: The Importance of Population-Wide Sodium Reduction as a Means to Prevent Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke

Published: January 13, 2011

Blood pressure (BP)-related diseases, specifically, stroke, coronary heart disease (CHD), heart failure, and kidney disease, are leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States and throughout the world.
A recent study projects that a national effort that reduces sodium intake by 1,200 milligrams (mg) per day should result in fewer CHD events, strokes, myocardial infarctions, and reduce the costs by up to $24 billion per year.
The cardiovascular benefits of reduced sodium intake are enormous and as critical as the benefits of population-wide reductions in tobacco use, obesity, and cholesterol levels. This benefit extends to all Americans.
Independent of its effects on BP, excess sodium intake adversely affects the heart, kidneys, and blood vessels.
The majority of the American public today either has high blood pressure or is at high risk for developing it.
Approximately 90% of all Americans will develop hypertension over their lifetime.
The American Heart Association’s 2020 impact goals – to improve the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20% while reducing deaths from cardiovascular diseases and stroke by 20%-- include a population-wide reduction of sodium consumption to less than 1500 mg daily, which is one metric that will be used to gauge the nation’s cardiovascular health.
A normal range blood pressure is another key factor the association will use to measure the nation’s CV health status, defined as <120/80 mm Hg untreated.
Current sodium consumption in the U.S. is more than two times higher than the recommended upper limit of 1500 mg sodium per day.
More than 75% of consumed sodium comes from processed foods and therefore any meaningful strategy to reduce sodium intake at the population level must involve the efforts of food manufacturers, food processors, and restaurant industries.

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Citation

Appel LJ, Frohlich ED, Hall JE, Pearson TA, Sacco RL, Seals DR, Sacks FM, Smith SC Jr, Vafiadis DK, Van Horn LV. The importance of populationwide sodium reduction as a means to prevent cardiovascular disease and stroke: a call to action from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2011: published online before print January 13, 2011, 10.1161/CIR.0b013e31820d079 http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/reprint/CIR.0b013e31820d0793