SALTS - Salt ALTernatives Study

Overview

The Salt ALTernatives Study (SALTS) will include 326 people with high blood pressure who will be randomly allocated (like a coin toss) to receive either a dietary salt reduction programme (SaltSwitch smartphone app + low sodium salt) or general information about heart-healthy eating. The SaltSwitch app enables the user to scan the barcode of a packaged food and receive guidance on healthier, low salt alternatives.

The 14-week study incudes a two-week baseline period followed by a 12-week intervention period, with random allocation taking place at the end of baseline. All participants will be given a SIM-enabled blood pressure monitor to provide home-based measures, collect two urine samples, and use a study smartphone app to scan household food purchases.

The main outcome of interest is urinary sodium excretion in adults with high blood pressure. Other outcome measures include systolic blood pressure, the number of participants achieving blood pressure control, urinary potassium excretion, changes in the sodium content of packaged food purchases, data on use and acceptability of the SaltSwitch smartphone app and low sodium salt and cost-effectiveness.

Aim

The aim of SALTS is to find out what effect a 12-week dietary salt reduction programme has on urinary sodium excretion in adults with high blood pressure.

Trial Registration Number: ACTRN12619000352101
This study has ethics approval from HDEC (18/NTB/239).

Timeline

Project will begin: Oct 2018

Results

Participant Results Infographic

Eyles H, Grey J, Jiang Y, Umali E, McLean R, Te Morenga L, Neal B, Rodgers A, Doughty RN, Ni Mhurchu C Effectiveness of a Sodium-Reduction Smartphone App and Reduced-Sodium Salt to Lower Sodium Intake in Adults With Hypertension: Findings From the Salt Alternatives Randomized Controlled Trial JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 2023;11:e43675 doi: 10.2196/43675 PMID: 36892914

Publications and Presentations

• Lessons learned from a remote blood pressure lowering trial in Aotearoa
• Eyles H., Neal B., McLean R., Rodgers A., Doughty R., Te Morenga L., Jiang Y., Grey J., Umali E., Bhana N., Shrestha S., Ni Mhurchu C. Learnings from the SALTS trial: Using technology to manage participant procedures and collect outcome data in the SALTS blood pressure lowering trial [oral presentation] Health Informatics New Zealand Annual Conference (Virtual format), 30-31 March 2021
• Eyles H, Cleghorn C. Dietary sources of sodium across the diverse New Zealand adult population [oral presentation] Nutrition Society of NZ Annual Conference (Virtual conference), 2-3 December 2021
• Eyles H., Neal B., McLean R., Rodgers A., Doughty R., Te Morenga L., Jiang Y., Grey J., Umali E., Bhana N., Shrestha S., Ni Mhurchu C. Findings from the SALTS randomised controlled trial [oral presentation]. International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity Annual Meeting Conference (Virtual conference), 18-21 May 2022
• Eyles H., McLean R., Rodgers A., Neal B., Doughty R., Te Morenga L., Jiang Y., Grey J., Umali E., Ni Mhurchu C. A novel sodium-reduction package for hypertensive adults: Findings from the SALTS trial [oral presentation] Population Health Congress (Virtual conference), 21-23 September 2022
• Eyles H, Grey J, Jiang Y, Umali E, McLean R, Te Morenga L, Neal B, Rodgers A, Doughty RN, Ni Mhurchu C Effectiveness of a Sodium-Reduction Smartphone App and Reduced-Sodium Salt to Lower Sodium Intake in Adults With Hypertension: Findings From the Salt Alternatives Randomized Controlled Trial JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 2023;11:e43675 doi: 10.2196/43675 PMID: 36892914