New Study Shows Reducing Salt Intake by 1 Teaspoon Has Same Effect As Taking Blood Pressure Medicine

A recent study found that reducing your daily salt intake by just one teaspoon can be as effective as taking medication to lower blood pressure.

Who conducted the study?

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, involved researchers from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Northwestern Medicine, and the University of Alabama.

They analyzed the salt intake and blood pressure of 213 individuals aged 50 to 75 over three weeks.

How did they do the research?

During the initial week, the researchers monitored the participants' blood pressure while they followed their regular diets.

In the second week, the measurements were taken during a high-sodium diet, and in the last week, they measured the blood pressure while the individuals were on a low-sodium diet.

After completing the study, co-principal investigator Norrina Allen, Ph.D., who is a professor of preventive medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, shared in a press release that they observed a reduction in blood pressure for 70% to 75% of individuals, irrespective of whether they were already taking medication.

¡°We previously didn¡¯t know if people already on blood pressure medication could lower their blood pressure more by reducing their sodium,¡± Allen wrote.

¡°This reinforces the importance of a reduction in dietary sodium intake to help control blood pressure, even among individuals taking medication for hypertension,¡± she added.

What are the key observations?

The study also discovered that participants experienced a drop in blood pressure in the week following their adherence to the low-sodium diet.

She wrote: ¡°It is particularly exciting that the products we used in the low-sodium diet are generally available, so people have a real shot at improving their health through improving their diet in this way.¡±

While on the low-sodium diet, participants reduced their salt intake by approximately one teaspoon daily. The Ashchi Heart & Vascular Center says one teaspoon of salt equals 2,300 mg of sodium.

The center's website notes that, on average, Americans consume over 3,400 milligrams of sodium daily.

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"Most middle-aged to elderly individuals consume a diet that is very high in sodium," Deepak Gupta, MD, an associate professor of medicine at VUMC and co-principal investigator, conveyed in a statement to Fox News Digital.

He added, "The magnitude of blood pressure reduction with a low-sodium diet was similar across individuals with normal blood pressure, controlled hypertension, untreated hypertension, and uncontrolled hypertension.

The Centers for Disease Control state that many individuals require medication to maintain healthy blood pressure levels.

Having high blood pressure can raise the risk of developing heart disease or experiencing a heart attack or stroke.

In August, a different study in the medical journal Hypertension provided evidence that alcohol can raise systolic blood pressure, even in individuals without existing hypertension.

The researchers noted that the more alcohol a person drinks, the higher their systolic blood pressure reading becomes, and there's no point where this relationship stops or changes.

¡°We found no beneficial effects in adults who drank a low level of alcohol compared to those who did not drink alcohol,¡± senior study author and professor Marco Vinceti said in a release by the American Heart Association.

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