According to a new British study conducted on 500,000 people, adding salt to food once at the table is linked to earlier death. From there to say that it reduces life expectancy, there is only a grain of salt.
In life, there are people who taste before adjusting the seasoning of a dish, and those who systematically add salt before even a single fork… For the second category of person, they have surely already been told that they had better taste before, but nothing helps. But now a new weighty argument has just fallen.
People who always add salt live shorter, it’s scientific
British researchers assessed the lifestyle of nearly 500,000 people, followed for an average of 9 years. Published on July 10, 2022 and relayed in particular by Science Dailytheir research highlighted a shorter life expectancy in people with the annoying habit of always adding salt to their plate once at the table, compared to those who do not.
Note that pointing out a correlation is not a causality, and it did not take into account the seasoning during the cooking/cooking process. And perhaps the reflex to systematically add salt often goes hand in hand with other bad eating or general lifestyle habits. But, as noted by Guardianthe research team found that “ the evidence was sufficiently convincing » :
“To my knowledge, our study is the first to assess the relationship between the addition of salt to foods and premature death,” said Professor Lu Qi of Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. in New Orleans, who supervised the work. »Even a modest reduction in sodium intake, adding less or no salt to foods at the table, is likely to result in substantial health benefits. »»
A life expectancy of -1.5 years for women
Compared to people who never or rarely added salt, those who always resalt their food had a 28% increased risk of dying prematurely, the study found. At the age of 50, men and women who always added salt had a life expectancy 2.3 years and 1.5 years shorter, respectively, than people who did not have this reflex.
For people addicted to the systematic resalting of the plate, I would like to point out that other flavor enhancers exist, such as a dash of lemon (whose vitamin C will promote better absorption of iron, by the way), vinegar, or better red onion pickles. And maybe by cooking your own dishes, you can put the dose of spices that have the gift of exciting your taste buds, and thus avoid the untimely addition of salt once at the table.
If you miss the gesture too much, instead of table salt, there is also the option of gomasio (which is a mixture of sea salt and ground sesame)! Less salt, more life, it’s for your good, I promise.
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Front page photo credit: pexels-cottonbro-3338497