High Sodium Intake Can Bring Early Death Says 15-Year Study

By Abigail Mellier, April 22nd, 2013 | Health | 0 Comments

According to a study, eating foods containing high amounts of sodium combined with low amounts of potassium is a recipe for bringing on heart disease and other related health problems.

In the study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine’s issue, over 12,000 participants daily sodium intake was tracked over a 15 year period. The men averaged 4,323 milligrams of sodium per day and the women averaged 2,918 milligrams, greatly exceeding the American Heart Association’s recommendation of 1,500 milligrams per day maximum.
Of the study participants who had the most disproportionate sodium-potassium ratio the risk of serious health issues and death was increased by a full 50 percent over study participants with the lowest sodium to potassium ratio.

Foods such as baked potatoes, bananas, apricots, prunes, raisins, dark chocolate and cocoa powder are naturally high in potassium and contain low amounts of sodium. Processed foods, on the other hand, are very high in sodium and contain very low amounts of potassium.

One of the easiest ways to achieve a healthy balance of sodium to potassium in our diets is to increase the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables we eat and decrease the amount of processed foods.