Salt impact on Blood Pressure

The dangers of eating too much salt

Salt is an important and necessary substance for the human body. The sodium ions in salt are very important for maintaining the body's water and acid-base balance and the secretion of many important glands (pancreatic juice, bile, tears).

Sodium is the most basic electrolyte in the human body. It is the main ion that regulates the osmotic pressure and volume of body fluids, so sodium is closely related to blood pressure.

Excessive salt intake will have a huge impact on the body’s blood pressure and organs, such as:

1. Cause blood pressure to rise

It may cause water and sodium retention, and the sodium ion content in the blood will increase, which can easily increase blood pressure.

2. Increase the burden on the kidneys

The kidneys are important metabolic organs of the human body. Excessive salt intake will increase the burden on the kidneys and easily cause damage to the kidneys and impair kidney function.

3. Damage to the heart

The retention of water and sodium caused by excessive salt will increase the pumping volume of the heart and increase the load on the heart. If the heart function itself is poor, it will aggravate dyspnea and heart failure.

4. Increase the risk of gastric cancer

A high-salt diet is one of the risk factors for gastric cancer. If you eat too much salt, it can easily cause irritation and damage to the gastric mucosa, easily induce gastric diseases, and slowly develop into gastric cancer.

The higher the salt intake, the higher the blood pressure level.

An increase of one gram in average daily salt intake increases systolic blood pressure by 2 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure by 1.7 mmHg.

Therefore, reducing salt intake will reduce the risk of high blood pressure.

Animal experiments and a large number of medical studies have proven this. In particular, the DASH study proved that blood pressure levels decrease with reduced salt intake. (The DASH diet is a diet developed from a large-scale hypertension prevention and treatment program in the United States in 1997)

How to control salt intake in diet?

First of all, you must change your living habits and eating habits. for example:

1. Quit smoking, limit alcohol, and eat less late-night snacks

For people with smoking habits, the taste is usually stronger because the taste buds in the mouth have been affected by substances in tobacco for a long time.

People who drink alcohol will consume more salt because they have to use some dishes to accompany the wine.

There are also some people who like to eat late night snacks and stay up late. These people tend to consume more food and salt.

2. Adjusting eating habits is more important

Choose fresh ingredients and reduce the consumption of pickled and pickled foods, because these foods contain a large amount of invisible salt, such as cured meat, salted fish and eggs, fermented bean curd, pickled vegetables and pickles.

First, it is recommended that everyone should consciously control their salt intake. First, they should change their cooking habits, reduce cooking methods that are heavy in oil and salt, and eat a light diet, so that each person's daily salt intake can be reduced to less than 5 grams.

Second, it is recommended to use low-sodium salt, because low-sodium salt replaces sodium chloride with about 20% potassium chloride, which fundamentally reduces sodium intake and can also supplement the body with some potassium.

Third, it is recommended that everyone learn to consciously read the food ingredient labels on the packaging, look for the salt or sodium labels inside, and buy less foods high in salt and sodium.

Reference:

1.Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention