We should all eat less salt, but that is not so easy. It’s almost everywhere. So a healthier alternative would be ideal. Researchers have now found that: potassium salt.

More than 85 percent of the Dutch eat too much salt, writes Scientias.nl. We should eat a maximum of 6 grams of salt per day, but Dutch women come at 7.5 grams and men even at 9.9 grams. With all its consequences. Eating too much salt (especially in combination with too little potassium) leads to high blood pressure, which significantly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and therefore premature death.

Potassium salt could be a solution. Part of the sodium chloride is replaced by potassium chloride. Researcher Bruce Neal gave 20,000 Chinese people enough free potassium salt to get through the day. In contrast, a control group that used normal salt. After five years, the number of heart attacks and strokes among those who had received the salt substitute was 13 percent lower than in the control group. There were no drawbacks to the potassium salt.

So this alternative could save lives. “Last year, a pilot study in China suggested that approximately 400,000 premature deaths could be prevented each year by replacing table salt,” Neal tells Scientias. “Our results now confirm this. If table salt were to be exchanged worldwide for potassium salt, it could save millions of lives every year.”