Lowering sodium in packaged and prepared foods could significantly improve cardiovascular health and prevent many cases of heart disease, stroke and deaths in the general population in France and the U.K., according to two new research studies published today in Hypertension, an American Heart Association journal.
Consuming too much sodium is a major risk factor for hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, which can lead to health complications such as heart attack, stroke, chronic kidney disease, dementia and other forms of cardiovascular disease, according to the American Heart Association. To address the global concern about excessive sodium consumption, many countries have implemented salt-reduction strategies to improve public health and reduce health costs.
Two studies—one in France involving salt-reduction targets for baguettes and other bread products in 2025, and the other in the United Kingdom focusing on 2024 goals for takeaway and packaged foods—estimated the potential impact on the general population if those salt-reduction targets were met. The projections indicate that minor adjustments in sodium content to some of the most common prepared foods in each country would require no effort from people to change their eating habits, yet may produce significant public health benefits.
“This approach is particularly powerful because it does not rely on individual behavior change, which is often difficult to achieve and sustain. Instead, it creates a healthier food environment by default,” said Clemence Grave, M.D., lead author of the study from France and epidemiologist and public health physician at the French National Public Health Agency.
In France, a 2022 voluntary agreement between the government and bread producers to lower salt content by 2025 was analyzed. Bread, especially the baguette, is a culturally and nutritionally central food in France, yet it can be high in salt. The analysis found that with bread consumption remaining the same and sodium-reduction targets fully met, less salt in baguettes and bread would decrease daily intake by 0.35 g per person, leading to slightly lower blood pressure across the population. Deaths are estimated to have declined by 1,186 annually, and hospitalizations for ischemic heart disease, hemorrhagic stroke and ischemic stroke dropped by 1.04%, 1.05% and 0.88% respectively.
“This salt-reduction measure went completely unnoticed by the French population—no one realized that bread contained less salt,” Grave said. “Our findings show that reformulating food products, even with small, invisible changes, can have a significant impact on public health.”
In the U.K., researchers estimated the impact of meeting 2024 sodium-reduction targets for 84 grocery food categories and 24 out-of-home categories. They found that fully meeting the sodium reduction goals could reduce average salt intake from about 6.1 g to 4.9 g per day—translating to an estimated average of 17.5% less salt consumed per person per day. During a 20-year period, the modeling suggests that about 103,000 cases of ischemic heart disease and approximately 25,000 strokes could be prevented. Over people’s lifetimes, the blood pressure reductions would translate into roughly 243,000 additional quality-adjusted life years and £1 billion in savings for the U.K.’s National Health Service.
“We know that cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death in the U.K.—as it is worldwide—so any reductions in salt intake and blood pressure could lead to big benefits,” said Lauren Bandy, D.Phil., the study’s lead author and a researcher at the University of Oxford. “If U.K. food companies had fully met the 2024 salt reduction targets, the resulting drop in salt intake across the population could have prevented tens of thousands of heart attacks and strokes, saved substantially in health costs and significantly improved public health, all without requiring people to change their eating habits.”
Daniel W. Jones, M.D., FAHA, chair of the 2025 American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology High Blood Pressure Guideline, said the results are “absolutely relevant” to the U.S. and any country where much of the food consumed is prepared outside the home. “Both of these modelling studies demonstrate the potential benefit in reducing risk for heart disease and stroke by reducing sodium consumption. This ‘national’ approach to limiting salt content in commercially prepared foods is a key strategy for countries where a major part of food consumption is from foods prepared outside the home. Though sodium reduction makes small improvements in blood pressure at the individual level, these small changes in individuals result in major improvements in a large population.”
The studies reinforce the importance of coordinated efforts among policymakers, the food industry and others to strengthen and enforce sodium-reduction programs globally to improve long-term health, researchers said.
