High Blood Pressure – Study shows that using Salt Substitute can help Lower Blood Pressure

March 13th, 2006

Researchers who presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 55^th Annual Scientific Session in Atlanta, GA showed a changing to a salt substitute was a simple treatment for reducing blood pressure.

The salt substitute study was conduct in Rural Northern China.  It was called The China Salt Substitute Study. 

"It's only recently been realized that chronic diseases are the main cause of death in China," said Bruce C. Neal, M.D., Ph.D. who is the director of the cardiac and renal division of The George Institute for International Health, Sydney, Australia. "We were interested in trying to find a new, practical way of addressing this very serious health problem."

Dr. Neal along with his colleagues had 608 participants that were randomly assigned either to keep their salt or to trade their salt for a salt substitute that was low in sodium and high in potassium.  The salt substitute that they used in the study was 65% sodium chloride (table salt), 35% potassium chloride, and 10% magnesium sulfate.  Some salt substitutes have mostly potassium chloride and have a bitter after-taste.  They found the other combination not to have this after taste.

For a period 12 months the rural China participants cooked with the salt substitute product.  The reason they picked the rural area was that the participants do not eat out much and cook almost all of their meals at home. 

The researchers measured the participant’s blood pressure.  The average blood pressure was 159/93 at the start of the study.  At the end of the 12 month period the salt substitute users had an average of 5.4 mmHg lower systolic blood pressure compared to the control group that continued to use regular salt.

"That's the really exciting thing: this is a dietary intervention that is producing a blood pressure reduction comparable to that achieved in many large-scale trials of blood pressure lowering drugs versus placebo," Dr. Neal said.

One brand that of a salt substitute is called AlsoSalt which the manufacturer said does not have the bitter after taste and contains potassium and L-lysine.  AlsoSalt comes in 3 flavors, original, butter flavored, and garlic flavored.  If you can't find the mixture that they used in the salt substitute, you can mix some regular salt in with the salt substitute to make it more edible.  You can use the salt substitute called “Mrs. Dash”.  This type of salt substitute uses a mixture of spices to flavor the food without any salt.

Cooking your own food will also lower your sodium intake.  If you buy frozen prepared foods or food that is semi-prepared or already made you have a good chance of having a higher amount of sodium content.  Try to read your food label to see the sodium levels in the food.  It can be shocking to see how fast your daily allotment for sodium can be used up.

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