High sodium has caused millions of global cardiovascular deaths per year, according to a recent study.

Researchers from Tufts University in Massachusetts found that more than 1.6 million cardiovascular-related deaths per year can be attributed to sodium consumption above the World Health Organization's recommendation of 2 grams (2,000 milligrams) per day.

"High sodium intake is known to increase blood pressure, a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases including heart disease and stroke," Dariush Mozaffarian, lead author of the study, said in a statement. "However, the effects of excess sodium intake on cardiovascular diseases globally by age, sex, and nation had not been well established."

For the study, researchers collected and analyzed existing data from 205 surveys of sodium intake in countries representing nearly three-quarters of the world's adult population, in combination with other global nutrition data, to calculate sodium intakes worldwide by country, age, and sex. Effects of sodium on blood pressure and of blood pressure on cardiovascular diseases were determined separately in new pooled meta-analyses, including differences by age and race.

The research team found that the average level of global sodium consumption in 2010 to be 3.95 grams per day, nearly double the 2.0 grams recommended by the World Health Organization. All regions of the world were above recommended levels, with regional averages ranging from 2.18 grams per day in sub-Saharan Africa to 5.51 grams per day in Central Asia.

In the United States, average daily sodium intake was 3.6 grams, 80 percent higher than the amount recommended by the World Health Organization. The researchers found that nearly 58,000 cardiovascular deaths each year in the United States could be attributed to daily sodium consumption greater than 2.0 grams. Sodium intake and corresponding health burdens were even higher in many developing countries.

"These 1.65 million deaths represent nearly one in 10 of all deaths from cardiovascular causes worldwide. No world region and few countries were spared," Mozaffarian said. "These new findings inform the need for strong policies to reduce dietary sodium in the United States and across the world."

High sodium intake is linked to higher risk of nonfatal cardiovascular diseases, kidney disease and stomach cancer, the second most-deadly cancer worldwide.

The findings were recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine.