A LOW-SALT diet may reduce the risk of heart disease, new research has revealed.

A LOW-SALT diet may reduce the risk of heart disease, new research has revealed.

It found that people with borderline high blood pressure who cut their salt intake by 25-35% lowered their risk of cardiovascular disease by 25%.

And this lower risk lasted for 10-15 years.

More than 3000 people took part in the study of low-salt diets and their effects on high blood pressure.

Those on a low-salt diet had a lower risk of all various kinds of cardiovascular disease - even 10-15 years later.

They were also 20% less likely to have died than people on a normal diet.

"Our study provides unique evidence that salt reduction might prevent cardiovascular disease and should dispel any residual concern that sodium reduction might be harmful," said Dr Nancy Cook in the online version of the British Medical Journal.

The study was conducted by Dr Cook and colleagues at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

The average British diet contains far more than the 2300mg of salt a day recommended by expert groups.

Dr Cook's team said salt may affect artery and heart health by ways that go beyond blood pressure.

Sodium may make blood vessels less able to expand and contract and may toughen heart cells, they said.