Salt Dubbed as Main Factor That Contributes to Risk of Having High Blood Pressure
Having high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, can cause serious problems like strokes and heart attacks if left untreated or uncontrolled. Although essential hypertension remains somewhat mysterious, it has been linked to certain risk factors like weight, age, and diet.
Too much stress and heavy use of alcohol may contribute to increased blood pressure. But the main contributor to having high blood pressure is none other than salt. As Graham MacGregor, professor of cardiovascular medicine and chairman of Blood Pressure U.K. said, "It's not the only factor, but it's the main one."
How could this seemingly harmless and essential culinary ingredient become harmful? Too much salt or sodium can cause the body to retain more water, and this extra fluid increases blood pressure. This, in turn, puts extra strain on the heart, arteries, kidneys, and brain.
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Now that the biggest cause for high blood pressure is identified, the most obvious thing to do is to avoid salt which would require dietary changes. "There's no natural rise in blood pressure with age — it's largely because of poor diet," MacGregor stressed. He recommended drastically reducing seasoning with salt.
But avoiding salty food is the easy part. The tricky part is spotting foods that don't taste salty but are actually laden with sodium. U.K.'s National Health Service announced that 75 percent of salt eaten come from processed food like bread, cereal, soups, baked beans, and biscuits. Chips and junk food also contain high levels of sodium.
MacGregor also warned about "special" salts like the Himalayan salt that tastes less salty but has essentially the same effect on the body. "In fact, in some ways salts with big crystals are worse because they have less of a salty flavor, meaning you inadvertently consume more of it," he explained.
As for iodized salt, the rule is still less is best. It's still basically salt with more iodine in it, as the name implies. Iodine can be sourced from seafood and vegetables anyway. "If you have high blood pressure you should cut out salt entirely, probably by cooking food from scratch," MacGregor recommended.
