Heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases kill nearly 800,000 Americans annually. By 2030, experts predict that medical costs associated with cardiovascular disease could cost America nearly $1 billion a day.

But a new global study published in The BMJ offers one simple solution — create government policies to reduce salt consumption. The researchers found that cutting back salt consumption by 10 percent over a 10-year period could save nearly 6 million years of life cumulatively around the world.

To conduct the study, the research team used a statistical model to quantify the effects and costs of implementing a government-supported policy to reduce salt consumption in 183 countries. The policies included measures to create food industry agreements while also increasing public education.

Using data from 2010, the team of researchers analyzed sodium intake, the effects of sodium on blood pressure levels and the effects of blood pressure on cardiovascular disease. They then combined this data with the predicted costs of the salt-reduction policies based on data from the United Kingdom and Turkey, both countries that have recently instituted similar programs.

Their results showed that salt reduction was much more cost-effective than many medical interventions. A government-supported national plan to reduce salt intake would be cost-effective in nearly every country in the world, the researchers said. They noted that their estimates of health benefits only considered cardiovascular disease and that the treatment of other diseases might benefit from salt reduction.