The Importance of Sodium Control
It is no secret that sodium can have negative effects on the heart, affecting blood pressure readings the most. Recent news emphasizes this point by highlighting patients that are already on medication for the treatment of high blood pressure. A recent publication of the journal Hypertension shows the ways in which salt can be counterproductive to hypertension treatment.
According to Yahoo! Health News:
Individuals with so-called resistant hypertension showed sharp reductions in their blood pressure when they dramatically cut their salt intake, Dr. Eduardo Pimenta of the University of Queensland School of Medicine in Brisbane, Australia and his colleagues found.
“It was an amazingly large reduction in blood pressure,” Dr. Lawrence J. Appel of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore… Appel estimated that 10% to 20% of people have resistant hypertension, meaning they are taking three or more blood pressure medications but their blood pressure is still too high.
Throughout the study, patients consumed a diet of varying amounts of sodium. One week, they took a higher sodium diet of about 5.7 grams of sodium daily, then 1.15 grams another week. “In the study by Pimenta and his team, going on the low-salt diet reduced people’s systolic blood pressure by 22.7 mm Hg, on average, and their diastolic pressure by 9.1 mm Hg.”
While medications can help lower blood pressure, it is equally, if not more important to pay close attention to one’s diet. Visit NorthShore University HealthSystem’s nutrition section to learn more.
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