• Posted January 30, 2026

Salty Drinking Water Increases High Blood Pressure Risk, Review Concludes

FRIDAY, Jan. 30, 2026 (HealthDay News) — People whose drinking water contains more salt have an increased risk of high blood pressure, a new evidence review says.

Particularly in coastal regions, salt in drinking water could be an overlooked contributor to elevated blood pressure, researchers reported recently in the journal BMJ Global Health.

Higher salt in drinking water is associated with a 26% increased risk of high blood pressure, with the strongest and most consistent links found among people living in coastal areas, researchers said.

“These are modest increases at the individual level, but when large populations are exposed, even small shifts in blood pressure can have significant public health effects,” said senior researcher Rajiv Chowdhury, chair of global health at Florida International University in Miami.

“To put it in perspective, the risk level observed in this study for water salinity is like other established cardiovascular risk factors, such as low physical activity, which increases hypertension risk by approximately 15 to 25%,” Chowdhury said in a news release.

For the study, researchers pooled data from 27 prior studies involving more than 74,000 people in the U.S., Bangladesh, Vietnam, Kenya, Australia, Israel, and several European countries.

High blood pressure starts at 130/80, according to the American Heart Association. The top number is systolic pressure, or the pressure inside blood vessels during a heartbeat; the bottom number, diastolic, reflects pressure between heart beats.

The study linked higher salt levels in drinking water to a 3.2-point increase in systolic pressure and a 2.8-point increase in diastolic.

Salt can enter drinking water in many ways, but along coastlines it most commonly occurs by saltwater intruding into groundwater systems, researchers said in background notes.

More than 3 billion people worldwide live in or near coastal areas, researchers said.

“Food remains the primary source of sodium for most people,” Chowdhury said. “But where salinity is elevated, drinking sources may add to total intake. Checking local water quality reports if available and focusing on overall dietary sodium are practical steps, particularly for individuals who need to manage blood pressure.”

More information

Harvard Medical Center has more on dietary salt and high blood pressure.

SOURCE: Florida International University, news release, Jan. 26, 2026