Policy options to reduce population salt intake

Raised blood pressure is the dominant cause of death and disability in adults worldwide, responsible for approximately 50% of deaths from coronary heart disease and over 60% of those from stroke. The risk of cardiovascular disease increases with increasing blood pressure, and causality is supported by randomised controlled clinical trials, in which lowering blood pressure over five years reduces cardiovascular disease by approximately the amount predicted from larger observational studies. But the majority of cardiovascular disease events attributable to blood pressure occur in people with untreated “normal” pressure (about 130/80 mm Hg), with additional events occurring even with blood pressure levels down to 115/75 mm Hg. Even a small downward shift in the distribution of blood pressure in the whole population would achieve a large drop in cardiovascular disease