Heart disease patients benefit most from a low-salt diet, but on average consume more than twice the recommended daily sodium intake, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Sessions. It is said that he is taking it.

Sodium is an essential nutrient, but too much can increase blood pressure, damage blood vessels, and strain the heart. Excess sodium can also cause your body to retain water and worsen conditions such as heart failure.

Current U.S. dietary guidelines published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture recommend that most adults limit their sodium intake to less than 2,300 mg per day. This is equivalent to about 1 teaspoon of table salt. For people with cardiovascular disease, the limit is even lower at 1,500 mg/day, according to ACC and American Heart Association guideline recommendations.

The new study found that of a sample of more than 3,100 people with heart disease, 89% consumed more than the recommended daily maximum of 1,500 mg of sodium, and study participants averaged 2.5 mg of sodium. It turned out that he had taken more than double that amount. According to researchers, limiting sodium intake is a fundamental lifestyle modification that has been shown to reduce the likelihood of subsequent serious adverse cardiovascular events.

Their findings highlight the challenges many people face in staying within recommended sodium intake limits, regardless of other factors such as socio-economic status.

“Estimating the amount of sodium in your diet can be difficult,” says Elsie Kodjoe, MD, an internal medicine resident at Piedmont Athens Regional Hospital in Athens, Georgia, and lead author of the study. “Food labels can help estimate the amount of sodium in your diet by indicating the amount of sodium in packaged foods. However, adhering to a low-salt diet is a difficult task for people with a strong motivation to comply. It remains difficult even for patients with vascular disease.”

The study used data from patients who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 2009 and 2018 and were diagnosed with heart attack, stroke, heart failure, coronary artery disease, or angina pectoris.

The researchers estimated sodium intake based on a questionnaire that asked participants to report everything they consumed in a 24-hour period. The results showed that study participants with cardiovascular disease consumed an average of 3,096 mg of sodium per day, which was slightly lower than the national average of 3,400 mg/day reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The relatively small difference in sodium intake means that people with cardiovascular disease restrict their sodium intake less than the general population and consume more than twice the recommended amount. “This suggests that there is,” Kodjoe said. “To make it easier for patients to adhere to dietary guidelines, we need to find more practical ways for the general public to estimate the sodium concentration of their diets, or source the sodium content of the foods we consume. You should consider reducing it directly from

The researchers also compared the sodium intake of people from different socio-economic groups, but found that after accounting for age, gender, race, and education, there was no significant difference between the more affluent and less affluent participants. No difference was observed.

Kodjoe said individuals can take active steps to reduce their sodium intake. This includes preparing more meals at home with greater control over sodium content and paying close attention to food labels, especially for foods with sodium concentrations of 140 mg or less per serving. will appear. The researchers suggested that better education about the benefits of sodium restriction could also help motivate more people to follow recommendations.

“Cardiovascular disease is real and, according to the World Health Organization, it is the number one cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide,” Kodjoe said. “Adhering to sodium guidelines is one simple strategy individuals can adopt right away to reduce hospitalizations, medical costs, and morbidity and mortality associated with cardiovascular disease.”

One of the limitations of this study is that sodium intake was estimated based on a food recall questionnaire rather than 24-hour urine sodium measurements, which are considered the gold standard. NHANES has included 24-hour urine sodium measurements in its data collection methods in recent survey cycles, so future studies using this data can more accurately assess sodium intake in people with cardiovascular disease. It may be possible.