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- A salt-free diet can reduce your risk of heart conditions and stroke, according to a new study.
- Researchers found that people who don't add salt to their meals are 18% less likely to develop a heart condition called atrial fibrillation (AF).
- AF is a condition that causes an irregular heartbeat and can lead to heart failure and stroke.
Removing salt from your diet can reduce your risk of heart conditions and stroke by nearly 20%.
According to The Guardian, researchers found that people who never add salt to their food were 18% less likely to develop a heart condition called atrial fibrillation (AF) compared to those who always do.
The American Heart Association describes AF as a "quivering or irregular heartbeat". The condition can lead to stroke, blood clots, heart failure and more.
"Our study indicates that lower frequency of adding salt to foods was associated with lower risk of AF," lead author Dr Yoon Jung Park says, as per The Guardian.
Researchers used data from the UK Biobank, which involved over half a million people aged 40 to 70 from the UK between 2006 and 2010.
Participants who already had heart conditions or stroke at the start of the study were excluded.
Every person was then asked how often they add salt to their food - never/rarely, sometimes, usually or always - and were tracked for over a decade to see how it influenced their well-being.
The data reportedly showed that those who steered clear of salt were 18% less likely to develop AF.
While people who sometimes added salt to their food were 15% less likely to develop AF compared to those who always added it.
All is not lost, though. If you find yourself in the "always" column, the research suggests that making the switch to "usually" or "sometimes" could still make a big difference to your overall risk of heart conditions or stroke.
