People around the world eat twice as much salt as they should, and this behavior translates into 1.65 million heart-related deaths per year, researchers said Wednesday.

Excess salt can cause high blood pressure, which is leading factor in heart disease and stroke, according to the study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Led by scientists at Harvard and Tufts University, the study combined data from 205 surveys of sodium intake in 66 countries around the world.

"These 1.65 million deaths represent nearly one in 10 of all deaths from cardiovascular causes worldwide," said lead researcher Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.

"These new findings inform the need for strong policies to reduce dietary sodium in the United States and across the world."

The average level of global daily sodium intake in 2010 was 3.95 grams per day, nearly double the World Health Organization recommendation of two grams per day, the study found.Although salt intake was higher than it should be in all world regions, the numbers varied.

Regional averages ranged from 2.18 grams per day in sub-Saharan Africa to 5.51 grams per day in Central Asia.

Americans` average daily salt intake was 3.6 grams. The US government recommends limiting sodium to no more than 2,300 mg (2.3g) per day.

"The majority of Americans have acquired a taste for a sodium consumption by a high salt diet," said Kevin Marzo, chief of cardiology at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, New York, who was not involved in the study.

"Health risks, particularly in its contribution to high blood pressure, may occur with the total daily consumption of more than a teaspoon of table salt."An accompanying editorial in the journal by doctor Suzanne Oparil at the University of Alabama at Birmingham urged caution in interpreting the results "given the numerous assumptions necessitated by the lack of high-quality data."

Other research published in the same issue of the New England Journal of Medicine showed evidence that both high and low levels of sodium were linked to greater risk of death and cardiovascular disease.

That further complicates the question of whether lower sodium diets might help or hurt public health, she said.

"These provocative findings beg for a randomized, controlled outcome trial to compare reduced sodium intake with usual diet," Oparil wrote.

"In the absence of such a trial, the results argue against reduction of dietary sodium as an isolated public health recommendation," said Oparil.

The Institute of Medicine has convened experts to weigh in on the matter, and they reported last year that most evidence shows high sodium boosts the risk of heart disease.

However, the IOM also said there is not enough research to say for sure that lowering sodium to the recommended intake range of 1.5-2.3 grams per day would lower the risk of heart disease in the general population.

Still, it probably wouldn`t hurt for most people to try and cut down on sodium, said David Friedman, chief of heart failure services at North Shore-LIJ`s Franklin Hospital in Valley Stream, New York.

"Based on the available data, reducing our collective sodium intake to the daily range between 1,500 to 2,000 milligrams per day is probably the sweet spot for just enough but not too much oral sodium intake in most adults with known heart disease or those who are trying to prevent further personal cardiovascular trouble," said Friedman, who was not involved in the study.

Valentin Fuster, physician-in-chief of The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, said eliminating processed foods is a good way to improve health.

"Nearly 50 percent of daily sodium intake comes from consumption of bread, processed meats, pizza, soups, sandwiches, snacks, and cheese," he said.

The next weapon to effectively fight cancer could be salt as researchers have found that an influx of salt into a cell triggers its death.

The finding could lead to new anti-cancer drugs, said the researchers who created a molecule that can cause cancer cells to self-destruct by carrying sodium and chloride ions into the cells.

"This work shows how chloride transporters can work with sodium channels in cell membranes to cause an influx of salt into a cell," said study co-author professor Philip Gale from the University of Southampton in Britain.

"We found we can trigger cell death with salt," Gale added.

Cells in the human body work hard to maintain a stable concentration of ions inside their cell membranes.

Disruption of this delicate balance can trigger cells to go through apoptosis, known as programmed cell death, a mechanism the body uses to rid itself of damaged or dangerous cells.

Unfortunately, when a cell becomes cancerous, it changes the way it transports ions across its cell membrane in a way that blocks apoptosis.

The new synthetic ion transporter works by essentially surrounding the chloride ion in an organic blanket, allowing the ion to dissolve in the cell's membrane, which is composed largely of lipids, or fats.

The researchers found that the chloride transporter tends to use the sodium channels that naturally occur in the cell's membrane, bringing sodium ions along for the ride.

"We have shown that this mechanism of chloride influx into the cell by a synthetic transporter does indeed trigger apoptosis," said co-author of the study Jonathan Sessler from the University of Texas at Austin.

The study appeared in the journal Nature Chemistry.

In what could add to our knowledge of how early life develops and also lead to better treatment of heart diseases and cancer, scientists have discovered a gene that plays a vital role in blood vessel formation.

"Blood vessel networks are not already pre-constructed but emerge rather like a river system. Vessels do not develop until the blood is already flowing and they are created in response to the amount of flow," explained professor David Beech from University of Leeds in Britain.

The gene called Piezo1 provides the instructions for sensors that tell the body that blood is flowing correctly and gives the signal to form new vessel structures, the findings showed.

"The gene gives instructions to a protein which forms channels that open in response to mechanical strain from blood flow, allowing tiny electrical charges to enter cells and trigger the changes needed for new vessels to be built," Beech noted.

The research team is planning to study the effects of manipulating the gene on cancers, which require a blood supply to grow, as well as in heart diseases such as atherosclerosis, where plaques form in parts of blood vessels with disturbed blood flow.

"This work provides fundamental understanding of how complex life begins and opens new possibilities for treatment of health problems such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, where changes in blood flow are common and often unwanted," Beech added.

World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed that the trials of preventative vaccine for the Ebola virus may commence in September, 2014 and might be available by 2015.

Jean-Marie Okwo Bele, the WHO's head of vaccines and immunization said that they were targeting September for the start of clinical trials, first in the United States and certainly in African countries, given that that was where they had the cases, News24 reported.

Bele asserted that they could already have results by the end of the year if they will start the trials from next month.

CurrentlY, there was no available cure or vaccine for Ebola, a virus that caused severe fever and unstoppable bleeding.

US Thursday has put on high alert the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Thursday against Ebola outbreak, which has killed many hundred people in West Africa.

"I have activated the CDC emergency operation centre at level one for this outbreak. This is our highest level of response," CDC director Tom Frieden told a congressional hearing

"It doesn't mean that there's an increased risk to Americans, but it does mean that we are taking an extensive effort to do everything we can to stop the outbreaks," Xinhua quoted Frieden as saying.

Calling it "a crisis" and "unprecedented," he said at the current trend there will have been more cases in this outbreak than in all previous recognised outbreaks of Ebola put together" within another few weeks.

And the best way to protect everyone worldwide is to stop the outbreak at the source in today's interconnected world, Frieden said.

"That is the only way to get control," he said. "I am confident that if we do what works, we will stop this one. But it won't be quick and it won't be easy. It requires meticulous attention to detail, because if you leave behind even a single burning ember, it's like a forest fire. It flares back up."