Written by Rita Jenkins| 20 September, 2008 03:32 GMT
Some patients whose hypertension resists control through medication may find that a simple dietary change can bring their readings into the safe zone: cutting down drastically on salt. When two groups of patients under treatment for high blood pressure were monitored around the clock, the group that was on a low-salt diet showed dramatically reduced BP levels, compared to the group that consumed more salt.
The
American Heart Association sodium recommends that healthy adults reduce their sodium intake to less than 2300 mg (about 1 teaspoon) per day.
Removing the salt shaker from the table isn't enough. To avoid too much salt in your diet, it's important to examine labels for sodium content. Many processed foods contain high levels of sodium, even if they don't taste particularly salty.
That said, "in hypertension, the elevated blood pressure isn't the main problem (as commonly assumed), but a symptom or sign of an imbalance in every cell of the body,"
maintains Richard D. Moore, MD, PhD, author of The High Blood Pressure Solution.
"Just treating the blood pressure -- by whatever means -- misses the point and can give a false sense of security. We DO know what causes high blood pressure. It is NOT inevitable -- but in most cases is due to a dietary imbalance between potassium and sodium," he explains.
"Finland has shown us the way where they have reduced strokes by 60% in the whole country by just eliminating sodium chloride addition in food and instead using a salt mixture in which part of the sodium is replaced by potassium and by magnesium," Dr. Moore notes.
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