A Special Spoon Helped People Eat Less Salt and Keep Blood Pressure Lower
Associations Between Salt‐Restriction Spoons and Long‐Term Changes in Urinary Na+/K+ Ratios and Blood Pressure: Findings From a Population‐Based Cohort
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
In China, many people add a lot of salt while cooking. This study tested a small spoon that holds exactly 2 grams of salt to help people use less. People who used it regularly ended up eating much less salt and their blood pressure didn't rise as much.
Surprising Findings
Diastolic blood pressure didn’t rise at all in the group that cut the most salt.
Most studies show both systolic and diastolic BP rise with age and high salt—this group defied that trend entirely, suggesting salt reduction may protect against even subtle pressure increases.
Practical Takeaways
Buy or make a 2-g salt spoon (about 1/3 tsp) and use it every time you cook at home.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
In China, many people add a lot of salt while cooking. This study tested a small spoon that holds exactly 2 grams of salt to help people use less. People who used it regularly ended up eating much less salt and their blood pressure didn't rise as much.
Surprising Findings
Diastolic blood pressure didn’t rise at all in the group that cut the most salt.
Most studies show both systolic and diastolic BP rise with age and high salt—this group defied that trend entirely, suggesting salt reduction may protect against even subtle pressure increases.
Practical Takeaways
Buy or make a 2-g salt spoon (about 1/3 tsp) and use it every time you cook at home.
Publication
Journal
Journal of the American Heart Association: Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease
Year
2020
Authors
L. Hou, Xiao-lei Guo, Ji-yu Zhang, Xi Chen, Liu-xia Yan, Xiao-ning Cai, Jun-li Tang, Chunxiao Xu, Baohua Wang, Jing Wu, Jixiang Ma, A. Xu
Related Content
Claims (6)
Cutting down on salt can lower your blood pressure, and the more salt you cut, the more your blood pressure drops—especially if it was already high to begin with.
In China, people who cook with a lot of salt and actually use a special spoon to measure less salt ended up excreting much less salt in their urine than people who didn’t use the spoon — showing that using the tool correctly makes it work better.
People in China who used a special spoon that measures exactly 2 grams of salt while cooking for three years ended up excreting less salt in their urine than those who didn’t use it—meaning the spoon helped them eat less salt.
People in China who lowered the balance of salt to potassium in their urine the most over three years ended up with much smaller increases in their blood pressure — some didn’t even see their bottom number (diastolic) go up at all, and their top number (systolic) only rose a little.
In China, people who used a special spoon that measures exactly 2 grams of salt ended up eating less salt than those who switched to low-salt seasoning—suggesting that changing how you cook might work better than just swapping out your salt.