If you find yourself excessively shaking the salt shaker these days, chances are it’s not a newfound love of salty food. Rather, biology (and aging) may be coming into play. That is, as we age, our ability to taste and smell food weakens so that our ability to taste the salt in a dish may decrease, leading us to add extra (and potentially harmful) amounts to our food. While your taste buds may be happy, your cardiovascular system takes a hit with each shake of salt you add. In fact, several new studies out of England and China confirm the potential health hazards of salt in the diet and the benefits of even small reductions or substitutions in salt intake for worldwide cardiovascular health.

First to England. Publishing in the European Heart Journal, researchers report that extra salt added to the meals of middle-aged Britons may be leading to the premature deaths (before age 75) of millions of people. They report that on average, extra salt in food knocks off 2 years of life for men and 1 ½ years of life for women. In essence, individuals who always add salt to their cooked meals were estimated to be at a 28% higher risk of premature death than those who rarely do. It’s difficult to assess accurately how much salt a person takes in, given that the majority of daily sodium intake is attributable to processed, prepackaged, and restaurant-prepared foods. (You might be surprised that foods that you regularly ingest also have high salt levels – foods like bread, chicken, cheese or eggs may already be providing you with significant levels of salt) Nonetheless, researchers believe that even cutting out small amounts of added salt at the dinner table could have potential cardiovascular benefits. To find out more, put down your fork and click here. Two additional recent studies (read here and here) out of China (where there are very high rates of cardiovascular disease) point to the benefits of replacing salt with a salt substitute (which will contain less sodium chloride and more potassium chloride) or even just modestly reducing salt intake. The use of salt substitutes is associated with reduced blood pressure, reduced cardiovascular events, and even reduced risk of death. And cutting just 1 gram of salt from the daily Chinese diet was estimated to potentially save millions of lives due to the lowering of heart disease and stroke. For more on these studies, grab some pepper instead and click here and here.

There are also studies that suggest that adding a spicier (non-salt) seasoning to a low-salt meal served to older adults will lessen their perception of the lack of salt, protecting their cardiovascular system as well. So, considering salt substitutes? Take a look here.  Strategizing about an alternative to salt? Open your spice drawer and look here. Finally, worried about whether your cooking will pass muster if you lessen the amount of salt you use? Calm your anxiety and take a look at the best-selling low-salt cookbooks here.