Salt Substitutes

People are well aware that table salt is a mixture of sodium and chloride. They are also well aware that table salt is associated with things like blood pressure. Blood pressure, in turn, is associated with things like stroke.

What people are less aware of is that salt substitutes still contain sodium and chloride. What is different is that some of the sodium has been replaced with potassium. That makes these compounds about 75 percent sodium chloride and about 25 percent potassium chloride.

We have known for some time that these substitutes lower blood pressure. Some of that is due to the decreased sodium in the diet. Some of that is due to the increased potassium in the diet.

A study published in the February 2005 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association of Cardiology looked at the impact of salt substitutes on stroke victims after they had their first stroke. 

We already know that individuals who have one stroke are at risk for repeated strokes in the future. We already know that individuals who have one stroke are more likely to have premature death from other causes as well.

This new study looked at over 15,000 patients who already had a stroke. Some of them received table salt. Others received the salt substitute. They found several things. 

The main thing was to make sure that individuals taking the salt substitute did not have any significant side effects from doing so. They looked specifically at potassium levels to ensure that taking extra potassium in the diet would not make blood potassium levels too high. It did not do so. Thus there was no harm in using the salt substitute.

As expected, the individuals taking the salt substitute had lower blood pressures. Previous studies had already shown that taking a salt substitute not only lowers blood pressure but helps decrease strokes in the first place.

The results also showed that for people who had one stroke already, there was a 21 percent decrease in future stroke related death. There was a 14 percent decrease in having another stroke. In addition, the overall mortality from any cause was lowered by 12 percent.

There are several lessons here. The first is that salt substitute lowers blood pressure for anyone. The second is that salt substitute offers specific benefits for individuals who already have had a stroke. It decreases repeat stroke. It decreases death rate from a later stroke. It decreases overall death rate after a stroke.

This suggests that there are large numbers of individual who might want to look at decreasing their sodium chloride intake. They include people with high blood pressure. They include people with a history of vascular issues. They include people who have had a stroke. They include people with a family history suggesting these kinds of vascular issues.

The next time you reach for the salt shaker, you can ask yourself if pure sodium chloride is what you really want to put on your food.