{"id":45738,"date":"2026-04-09T13:09:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T13:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=45738"},"modified":"2026-04-09T13:09:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T13:09:00","slug":"adding-salt-at-the-table-is-linked-to-poor-diet-higher-health-risks-in-adults-over-60","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=45738","title":{"rendered":"Adding salt at the table is linked to poor diet, higher health risks in adults over 60"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft wp-block-nypost-editor-partner-article-links\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Reaching for the salt shaker at the kitchen table may seem like second nature for some \u2014 but it could reveal troubling details about your health.<\/p>\n<p>Recent Brazilian research, published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, investigated the impact of\u00a0adding salt to food\u00a0with a focus on older adults.<\/p>\n<p>The study used national survey data from more than 8,000 Brazilians over the age of 60, collected between 2017 and 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Participants were asked the question, \u201cDo you have the habit of adding salt to food at the table?\u201d The researchers then deciphered certain traits that were linked to the habit.<\/p>\n<p>About 10.9% of older adults said they used salt at the table. Men reported this habit more than women \u2014\u00a012.7% compared to 9.4%, according to the published study.<\/p>\n<p>Men not following a diet for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/08\/22\/health\/5-foods-that-can-naturally-lower-your-blood-pressure\/\">high blood pressure<\/a>\u00a0were more than twice as likely to add salt compared to men who follow this diet.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Adding salt at the table is linked to poor diet and higher health risks in adults over 60. <span class=\"credit\">motortion \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Men who reported living alone had a 62% higher likelihood of using salt compared to men who lived with others.<\/p>\n<p>Women not following a high blood pressure diet had 68% higher likelihood of using extra salt.<\/p>\n<p>Adding salt was also associated with a lower intake of\u00a0fruits and vegetables\u00a0among women. The odds of adding salt to food were 81% higher in women who did not eat fruit, and 40% higher in those who did not eat vegetables.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>About 1.89 million deaths a year are associated with consuming too much sodium, according to the World Health Organization. <span class=\"credit\">Andrei Tsalko \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Women who have a high concentration of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/03\/18\/health\/how-much-every-serving-of-ultraprocessed-food-raises-your-heart-attack-stroke-risk\/\">ultraprocessed foods<\/a>\u00a0in their diet were more than twice as likely to add salt to food, as were those living in urban areas.<\/p>\n<p>As this study was cross-sectional, it showed an association but could not prove that one thing caused another, the researchers acknowledged. Some of the information was self-reported, which could also limit the findings.<\/p>\n<p>Diets high in sodium are known to cause an increase in blood pressure, which also raises the risk of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/tag\/heart-disease\/\">heart disease<\/a>, gastric cancer, obesity, osteoporosis and kidney disease, according to the World Health Organization.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The WHO recommends that adults consume less than 5 grams of salt per day, or just under a teaspoon. <span class=\"credit\">EdNurg \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>About 1.89 million deaths each year are associated with consuming too much sodium, the organization reported.<\/p>\n<p>The WHO recommends that adults consume less than 5 grams of salt per day, or just under a teaspoon, for best\u00a0health outcomes.<\/p>\n<p>Study co-author Dr. D\u00e9bora Santos, a titular professor at Rio de Janeiro State University, called for alternative ways to decrease additional use of salt.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThe use of herbs and natural seasonings as alternatives to salt, or\u00a0culinary techniques\u00a0such as using the acidity of citrus fruits, may help reduce discretionary salt use while maintaining food palatability,\u201d she wrote in a press release.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPractical strategies, such as avoiding the routine placement of saltshakers on the table, may also help reduce habitual salt use.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Los Angeles-based registered dietitian nutritionist Ilana Muhlstein said adding salt to food before trying it is one of her \u201cbiggest pet peeves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s interesting that this study found that men were significantly more likely to add salt to their food\u00a0compared to women, because this is an observation I\u2019ve had as well,\u201d Muhlstein, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt could be because women are more bloat-conscious overall and may be more informed on the medical harms of excessive salt, as well as the more superficial ones like making your rings hard to take on or off (when you\u2019re dealing with water retention from increased salt intake).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For men, Muhlstein suggested that those who live alone are potentially more likely to\u00a0order takeout\u00a0\u2014 and restaurants \u201ctend to use much more salt than home cooking, which could make someone\u2019s preference for salty food much higher.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is further reflected in the stats showing that the less fruits and vegetables one eats, and the more processed foods consumed, the more likely one was to add salt to their food,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n<p>The finding that a low blood pressure diet positively influences a person\u2019s salt intake is \u201cpromising and intriguing,\u201d according to Muhlstein.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis should encourage HHS and public health officials to promote\u00a0nutrition education\u00a0and the importance of whole foods, less processed foods and reduced salt intake overall,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/09\/health\/adding-salt-at-the-table-is-linked-to-poor-diet-higher-health-risks-in-adults-over-60\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reaching for the salt shaker at the kitchen table may seem like second nature for some \u2014 but it could reveal troubling details about your health.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}