Check Up: Why salt worsens high blood pressure

Olivette writes Check Up from a Greater Portmore, St Catherine, address. At the early age of 20, she has recently been diagnosed as suffering with high blood pressure.

Her family doctor has advised her to decrease her salt intake. Olivette says that she has heard this advice given before to her mother, who is also hypertensive!

She asks Check Up why salt worsens high blood pressure. As a lover of the seaside and the ocean she also asks Check Up if the salt in seawater is good for her body.

We certainly need salt to live, and our body cannot function or carry out its cellular processes without salt. But in the hypertensive person, excess salt intake can affect the blood pressure quite negatively.

The amount of salt that we eat has a direct effect on our blood pressure. Salt causes the body to hold on to water, so with increased salt intake, the extra water stored in the body causes the blood pressure, to rise. The higher the blood pressure the greater the strain on the heart, brain, kidneys, and arteries everywhere, which can lead to heart attacks, strokes, circulation problems, and even dementia.

The kidneys depend on a balance between sodium and potassium, two elements to pull water from the blood stream. They collect this water via the bladder as a constituent of urine. Excess salt prevents the kidneys from removing the water as it should, which results in a higher blood pressure in the arteries due to the extra fluid retained. This leads to kidney damage, where the kidneys have problems with removing toxic waste products from the body. Kidney failure can result as the body becomes poisoned by its own toxins. Reducing salt intake will improve kidney function.

STRAIN

With extra strain on the arterial walls, they become thicker to manage the load, just as our arm muscles do when we routinely lift heavy weights. The problem here, as well as in the heart, is that the building of the bigger muscles takes up space, making the space inside the arteries and heart smaller. This raises the blood pressure even higher. This cycle of events can lead to the arteries becoming blocked and can cause fatal heart attacks and even limb amputations as parts of the body receive less blood and become damaged. One way to keep the heart healthy, therefore, is to eat less salt!

CIRCULATION

Reduced blood circulation to the brain will ultimately cause vascular dementia and a stroke. A stroke causes loss of ability to perform the tasks the injured area of the brain had previously controlled. Prevent stroke by eating less salt.

The 'Dietary Guideline for Americans' in the United States of America has issued a strong warning that people need to reduce their salt intake. Studies show that cutting dietary salt can prevent more than 100,000 deaths each year in the USA alone.

We are advised to reduce our daily intake of salt to one teaspoon, which will pose a huge challenge for our salt-loving society! People with chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and kidney disease are encouraged to reduce this amount to little over half of a teaspoon of salt daily. This is especially so for black people with chronic diseases.

There are, however, some positive salt health benefits for lovers of the sea. Sea-water carries about 35 grams of salt per litre of water, which has several health benefits when applied to the skin topically. Studies have shown that swimming in clean salt water helps skin sores to heal and provides the equivalent of a nasal and ear washout.

Seawater has been documented as treatment for atopic dermatitis (eczema), providing relief from itching and burning skin. The treatment is better using deep seawater as bacteria can be found near the surface. Seawater also improves the skin condition, psoriasis, as well as helping relieve psoriatic arthritis.

Seawater can have good effects on people who suffer with bronchial disorders, a fact to which many people who swim in the sea often will give testimony!

Write to:

Lifeline,

PO BOX 1731,

KGN 8

Email: arnaj56@gmail.com

AJM