When it comes to food, salt often takes the front seat. Yes, just by sprinkling here or pinching there, salt enhances the flavor, preserves food, and elevates the taste of the meal. Have you ever imagined what would happen when it goes overboard? Often, healthcare professionals warn us about the link between binge salt consumption and high blood pressure. But is it actually that serious? Further, let’s break it down.

How much salt do we really need?

We can say that one teaspoon or 5 grams of salt per day is ideal for adults. To maintain your heart health, consider consuming 1500 mg of sodium intake per day. Also, you need to understand that in a few countries the average amount of sodium intake per day is more than double the amount of this number.

How does excess sodium intake affect your blood pressure?

Typically, salt has the tendency to bind more water. When your salt consumption is more, there will be excess water in your blood, which puts more pressure on your blood vessel walls, eventually this will trigger hypertension symptoms.

If you already have high blood pressure, when consuming more amounts of salt can raise it further, so automatically the high blood pressure pills that you are taking won’t work effectively. One of the easiest ways to lower your high blood pressure is to cut down your sodium intake, which will show a great difference.

Simply, binging salt will result in several health issues, and one among them is high blood pressure. Other problems include heart attack, kidney disease, stroke, and a few types of dementia.

How does salt affect your kidneys?

As we all know, the kidney plays a significant role in removing waste products and fluid from your body and also help in managing your high blood pressure. So when eating excess salt, kidneys become less capable of doing their jobs, increasing your high blood pressure levels, and resulting in kidney disease. Consider reaching out to the best general physician in Coimbatore to treat your hypertension symptoms. Those fluids filtered by your kidneys from the blood will be further collected in your bladder and will be removed as urine.

When including more salt in your diet, eventually sodium levels in your blood will be raised, which will greatly affect the fine balance of sodium and water levels in your body, further, this will disturb those tiny blood vessels in an individual’s kidney.

When overlooking those excess strains, it will damage your kidneys, resulting in kidney disease. As a result, kidneys become less capable of doing their job, which increases your high blood pressure and allows waste and fluid to get stored in your body. Over time, it can also result in kidney failure, hypertension, stroke, and heart disease.

Are there any ways to ease hypertension?

Do you want to alleviate the risks of high blood pressure? Primarily, consider concentrating on the reasons for high blood pressure and also, try to follow the below-mentioned three points along with changes to your diet, which greatly help you to ease hypertension:

Reduce salt consumption: Sodium assists your body in retaining fluids; further, in your body, the fluid volume will increase, so your hypertension will also increase.

Keep an eye on your weight: After binge intake of sodium, excess body weight will increase the risk of high blood pressure, which is hypertension.
Engage in physical activities: Typically, dietitians will not just suggest changes in their diet; they will also suggest that you do some exercise, which will you ease hypertension.

How much sodium intake per day is recommended?

In case you have high blood pressure, consider reducing sodium as your top priority by opting for a low-sodium diet, as it will greatly assist in reducing your hypertension. Also, to consume a balanced diet, some levels of sodium are significant, the issue arises only when it crosses the limit. The highest amount of salt an individual can consume per day is 2300 mg, or 1 teaspoon of salt, and the minimum amount is 500 mg.

Opt for a low-sodium diet for hypertension:

Consider eating dishes that have less sodium content, and also limiting the amount of salt in other recipes remains a better way to reduce sodium, which also helps in reducing your hypertension.

Say ‘no’ to processed foods:

Simply, salt is a preservative, so try buying frozen or fresh veggies, fruits, and fish when available, which will be one of the smart moves that you can make rather than buying ready-made dishes. To maintain the freshness of processed foods for an extended period, manufacturers will add more salt, which may worsen your hypertension.

Eating in restaurants:

Whether you can eat in the hostel or the restaurants, whenever you eat outside your home will add more salt to your meal. All those fast foods that are prepared at hotels can be sodium-heavy. Just understand that not always those restaurants will think about their customers’ health. Usually, chefs in restaurants will use more salt to level up the flavors and retain the customers.

What are the ways to eat less salt?

Just by changing your diet, understanding the food labels, and trying to add different flavors to your meals, you can significantly reduce your salt consumption, and can still manage to eat delicious food, while keeping your hypertension in check.

Tips to eat less salt:

When cooking, instead of completely relying on salt, try adding more flavors and giving your taste buds a little time to adjust.
Try to avoid incorporating very salty foods like ready-made sauces, soy sauces, and gravy granules, opt for low salt options, or you can also try some new flavours.
Add more flavors to your recipes like herbs, spices, and seasonings such as pepper, chilli, ginger, lemon, or lime juice.
Before adding salt to your food, taste it once, because at times, individuals add salt out of habit, so always consider tasting your meals first.
Remove the salt shaker from your dining table, as it can tempt you to add more salt to your diet even without you realising it.
Consider opting for salt alternatives, if you can’t manage to eat salty foods, try using a limited amount of low-sodium.
Make your own marinades, try to marinate meats or fish using lemon, or with yogurt and spices to avoid the need to add salt flavor.
Limit salty foods, avoid cooking sauces, and table sauces such as ketchup, mustard, pickles, and olives, because these food items naturally contain more amounts of salt.
Before buying a product, check the labels, because when comparing the products with others, you can easily find low-salt options.
Try to stay away from smoked and processed meats, as they contain more salt, so consider limiting them as much as you can.
Whenever eating outside, if you can, ask the chef to reduce the salt content in your meal. Also, this is not always applicable, but it’s worth asking, and there are lots of possibilities for less salt than others.
Consider using food switch apps, as this will compare the salt content of similar dishes so you can get to know the healthier options.

What are the foods high in salt?

A few foods contain high amounts of salt, below find what are those foods and try to stay away from them:

Tomato ketchup
Packed soups
Chicken, beef, and vegetable stock cubes
Soy sauce
Mustard
Dried fish
Pickles
Curry powders
Fast foods
Ready-made sandwiches
Breaded chicken products
Hams

Simply, most of the time, our salt consumption is hidden in the food labels, and the same products in another brand can vary in salt level. For instance, when you are buying two loaves of bread from different brands, basically, they may appear the same, but when checking the labels, one contains 1g of salt per slice, and the other brand may contain half of the salt from the first one. Simply, before buying, check the nutrition details on the food labels to verify whether it is low, medium, or high in salt, also compare this with other products to choose the healthy option.

What’s the intricate relation between excess salt consumption and hypertension?

Further, let’s see where things get serious:

When you are consuming more salt, your body holds more water to dilute that excess sodium in your bloodstream.
Eventually, due to this excess water, your blood volume will be increased.
Eventually, an individual’s heart needs to work harder to pump blood, which increases their high blood pressure.

High blood pressure can put a strain on your heart, arteries, and kidneys, which increases your risk of heart disease, kidney failure, stroke, and other complications.

What do the experts say about the indirect connection between salt and hypertension?

Several studies have highlighted the strong connection between high sodium intake and hypertension:

People who follow a low salt diet tend to have lower blood pressure and a reduced incidence of heart disease.
Limiting sodium intake for hypertension has been proven to lower your high blood pressure, notably in people who are salt-sensitive (mostly affects individuals with high blood pressure, and older adults).

You need to understand that not everyone’s body will react in the same way when consuming salt, like some individuals will be salt-sensitive, which means those individuals blood pressure spikes in response to excess salt. Also, without medical help one cannot find it, that’s why reducing salt intake is considered safe for everyone.

Where is all this salt coming from?

As we mentioned above, more than 70% of the salt comes from processed and packaged foods, like:

Bread and rolls
Ready-to-eat meals
Chips, crackers, and salty snacks
Canned soups and vegetables
Sauces and salad dressings
Fast food and restaurant meals

Is there any holistic way to tame high blood pressure?

Instead of trying out shortcuts to reverse your condition, consider following a broader approach to retool your diet. We can say that one of the finest approaches to alleviate the risk of illness and death due to high blood pressure is hypertension treatment in Coimbatore, and concentrating on wholesome foods and a lifelong approach to better eating, managing your weight, and exercising regularly.

Final thoughts:

In conclusion, we can say that consuming salt in moderation is not harmful, even sodium is crucial for nutrients. But when taking it in larger amounts, it silently becomes a threat, gradually pushing your high blood pressure without you even realizing it. The actual issue lies in hidden salt and habitually overconsuming it. In case you have high blood pressure or a family history of heart disease, you should give special attention to your sodium intake. So, just think wisely before you add more salt to your meal. Your heart might thank you later.