{"id":579,"date":"2011-03-21T08:42:39","date_gmt":"2011-03-20T21:42:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healthjigsaw.com\/blog\/?p=579"},"modified":"2011-11-06T21:06:34","modified_gmt":"2011-11-06T10:06:34","slug":"salt-high-blood-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthjigsaw.com\/blog\/salt-high-blood-pressure\/","title":{"rendered":"Salt & High Blood Pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"

In our previous blog post<\/a>, we discussed how\u00a0high blood pressure<\/a> (or hypertension) can be impacted by lifestyle factors such as a high salt intake.<\/p>\n

So how does salt increase blood pressure?<\/p>\n

When our salt (sodium chloride) intake levels are very high, the kidneys cannot keep up with the excretion and the salt ends up in our bloodstream. \u00a0The body compensates by retaining more fluid to dilute the sodium levels, which increases blood volume. \u00a0This\u00a0then raises blood pressure as the heart has to work harder to pump the larger volume of blood around the body.<\/p>\n

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Only about 25 per cent of our sodium intake comes from the salt shaker. \u00a0The rest is hidden in processed foods that have salt added during manufacturing. \u00a0One gram (1000 milligrams) of salt has 400 mg sodium.<\/p>\n

The National Health and Medical Research Council has set an \u2018Adequate Intake\u2019 of 460\u2013920 mg of sodium (equivalent to\u00a01.15\u20132.3 grams of salt) per day and a \u2018Suggested Dietary Target\u2019 of 1600 mg of sodium (about 4 grams of salt) for Australian adults. \u00a0However, most Australians have a daily salt intake of about 10 grams. \u00a0The recommended amount of sodium for people with hypertension is about 1500 mg a day.<\/p>\n

Salt is listed on nutrition panels as sodium. \u00a0Foods with less than 120 mg per 100 grams are low in salt, while foods with more than 500 mg per 100 grams are high in salt.<\/p>\n

Luckily, the food industry has been involved in reformulating some products to reduce salt levels. \u00a0For example,\u00a0Vegemite has been reducing its salt content since 1974 and now has 13 per cent less salt than the original recipe.<\/p>\n

Here are a few tips to reduce salt in your diet:<\/p>\n