Why should hypertension eat less salt?

 Hypertension is one of the most common chronic diseases with the highest incidence in the world. Hypertension Prevention and Treatment Guidelines in China [1] point out that 1 in every 5 adults in China suffers from hypertension. Every day, many friends leave messages to me in the background, asking about hypertension. The most common question is "I have paid attention to eating a light diet and less salt, why is my blood pressure still high?"

Why should hypertension eat less salt? People with high blood pressure are told to eat less salt. This is because: salt contains sodium ions, which can increase blood pressure by affecting hormone secretion, vascular function, genetics and other factors [2]. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2016), adults should not consume more than 6 grams of salt per day, equivalent to 2,358 mg of sodium. If you want to prevent hypertension, sodium should not exceed 2,000 mg, equivalent to 5g of salt [3].

These 6 invisible salts can't be ignored! Although salt is the main source of sodium in the diet, many foods like to carry salt for themselves. Some foods that don't taste salty actually contain a lot of hidden salt! Many people with high blood pressure ignore this, so blood pressure can not be controlled. "Salt limit", to be precise, should be "sodium limit". Today I'm going to tell you where the "invisible salt" is hidden! 1, a variety of condiments, sauces we cook often use a variety of condiments, sauces, such as soy sauce, MONOsodium glutamate, chicken essence, bean sauce, chili sauce...... They're all heavy sodium users. Even though they don't have the word "salt" in their name, these condiments and sauces are made with a lot of salt added to preserve and season them, so they're quite high in sodium! 2, processed meat products ham, bacon, bacon and other processed meat products are also a big collector of salt! Because salt is an indispensable raw material in the processing of meat products, it can not only flavor, but also make the meat more tender, but also prolong the retention of flavor. In particular, the preserved meat that needs to be air-dried for a long time often needs a lot of salt for processing, with the highest salt content of 5 ~ 10%, in order to better antisepsis and bacteriostatic.

3, pickled food many old people especially like to eat pickles or salted duck eggs with white porridge, think that eat light and stomach. However, pickles, sauerkraut, pickles and other pickled food production, are inseparable from a large amount of salt. In addition to flavoring, salt helps other seasonings to penetrate into food. The salt concentration of traditional pickles is as high as 10 to 14 percent. 4, noodles with sausage is a lot of people's overtime meal choice, it said that the sodium content of ham sausage is high, instant noodles can not be small shushy, usually we eat instant noodles, will feel very thirsty, which is related to the intake of a lot of salt in unknowingly. And we rarely notice the noodle, is also a big salt storage. In order to make the noodles stronger, salt and alkali are added. Although you can't eat salty noodles, the salt content in a bag of noodles is 3g. If you are used to adding a pinch of salt when cooking noodles, then a bowl of noodles will easily add 4G salt, which will make the salt intake in a day exceed the limit in minutes!

Preserved fruit food this kind of food is salted with salt and sugar, sweet, sour, salty three tastes mixed together, the "offset weakened" effect, so when you eat it will not feel salty, will make people mistakenly think that this kind of food does not contain salt. In fact, the sodium content contained in it is really not low, hypertensive patients should not eat more! 6, ice cream, cake and other desserts although the taste is sweet, but in the process of making bread, cookies, cakes, ice cream and other desserts, in addition to salt, but also add some sodium ions containing supplementary materials, such as the role of baking sodium bicarbonate, adjust the acidity of sodium citrate and so on. Therefore, the sugar and salt content of desserts are very high, and patients with hypertension and diabetes should control the intake of desserts. Therefore, in addition to eating less visible salt on the diet of hypertensive patients, attention should be paid to prevent these invisible salt from exceeding the standard. Regular exercise can also help lower blood pressure, and 30 minutes of exercise five to seven times a week is recommended.

1, hypertension patients can choose low sodium salt, with oil can and salt limit spoon, do know. 2. Use natural seasonings such as star anise, cinnamon, fennel, cinnamon and sichuan peppercorns to add flavor and not rely too much on soy sauce and salt. 3. Potassium supplementation can reduce the amount of sodium in human body, thus lowering human blood pressure [2]. Therefore, people with high blood pressure can eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. In particular, bananas, mangoes, oranges, soy products, leafy greens, potatoes and other foods rich in potassium and magnesium are conducive to the discharge of sodium.