Salt is found on most dinner tables in America. It may be the most popular condiment for enhancing a meal's flavor. While salt is vital for many cellular functions in the human body, always adding salt to your food could pose a health risk.
A study recently published in Gastric Cancer reveals that people who always add salt to their food have a 41% increased risk of developing gastric cancer. Researchers analyzed data from the UK Biobank involving more than 500,000 adults. Study participants had been quizzed on their habits of adding salt to their food. Participants who stated they "always" added salt to their food were found to have the greatest risk of developing gastric cancer.
While researchers are uncertain as to why salt can increase gastric cancer risk, possible theories include that the stomach lining is affected by the salt and another theory sugeests that salt increases H. pylori bacteria in the stomach, which is a known factor in stomach cancer. Scientists do know that eating large amounts of salty foods, included pickled vegetables and salted fish are risk factors for stomach cancer, which is the fifth commonly diagnosed cancer in the world. Physicians are advised to counsel their patients to reduce their intake of salt.
