India, April 5 -- Excessive consumption of dietary sodium (salt) is a significant, independent risk factor for new-onset heart failure, according to a report from Vanderbilt Health.

In a group of predominantly Black and low-income people from the southeastern United States, consuming a population average of about 4,200 milligrams of dietary sodium a day (the recommended maximum is 2,300 milligrams) was associated with a 15% increase in the risk of incident (new) cases of heart failure.

"Even modest reductions in sodium consumption may significantly reduce the burden of heart failure in this high-risk population," the researchers reported March 17 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Advances.

Reducing dietary salt cons...