Low sodium diet

Sodium is a mineral, and most of the sodium in foods comes from salt. Too much sodium in human diet makes human body holds on to too much fluid. This fluid can collect where it shouldn’t: in hands, legs, ankles, belly, and lungs. This may cause problems for people who have liver, heart, or kidney disease.

On average, American adults eat more than 3,400 milligrams (mg) of sodium each day, which is significantly higher than the recommended limit. The 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that Americans consume less than 2,300 mg of sodium each day as part of a healthy eating pattern. The majority of the sodium Americans consumes—more than 70%—is found in processed food and restaurant meals.

Choosing and preparing foods that are lower in salt and sodium may help prevent or lower high blood pressure. High blood pressure can raise the risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

Dishes with many ingredients — like pizza, casseroles, burgers, tacos, and sandwiches — tend to have ingredients that are high in sodium. When making these dishes, limit ingredients that are often high in sodium:
•Processed meats, poultry, and seafood — like deli meats, sausages, pepperoni, and sardines
•Sauces, dressings, and condiments
•Instant products like flavored rice, instant noodles, and ready-made pasta

Depending on the food choices, it doesn’t take much to consume more sodium than recommended.
*One slice of bread can contain anywhere from 80 to230 mg of sodium, and a slice of frozen pizza can contain between 370 and 730 mg.
*Some breakfast cereals contain 150 to 300 mg of sodium before milk is added.

Low sodium diet

Yanomami and hypertension

Statistical connections between elevated blood pressure and stress have been made for a number of human populations.

Yanomami are the tribes of roughly twenty thousand Amazonian Indians living in 200 to 250 villages along the border between Venezuela and Brazil. The yanomami diet consists of locally grown crops, nuts, insects, fish and game. It contains less than a gram of salt a day, the lowest salt intake recorded for any population.

Cultivation of crops accounts for about 80% of Yanomami food grown in a series of ‘garden’ usually about 5 hectares in size which are cleared from the forest not far from the Yano.

The Yanomami have very low average blood pressure and no hypertension. Studying the salt intake and blood pressure of the Yanomami and 51 other populations around the globe helped to establish a relationship between salt intake and hypertension; diets that are high in salt are associated with an increased incidence of hypertension.

The findings in the Yanomami population were as follows: a very low urinary sodium excretion (0.9 mmol/24h); mean systolic and diastolic BP levels of 95.4 mmHg and 61.4 mmHg, respectively; no cases of hypertension or obesity; and they have no knowledge of alcoholic beverages. Their BP levels do not elevate with age. The urinary sodium excretion relates positively and the urinary potassium excretion relates negatively to systolic BP (Arq Bras Cardiol, volume 80 (nº 3), 295-300, 2003).
Yanomami and hypertension

Hypertension Supplements

Hypertension Supplements
Hypertension is commonly known as high blood pressure. A healthy young adult resting blood pressure should be around 120/80 mmHg, blood pressure rises with age, a typically healthy 50 year old should have blood pressure reading of 150/90 mmHg at rest. Hypertension (high blood pressure) is diagnosed when the blood pressure is constantly above 160/95 mmHg at rest.

The contributing factors to hypertension (high blood pressure) are kidney and hormonal disease, a genetically predisposed family history to high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, high consumption of dietary salt (sodium chloride), low dietary calcium, depletion in magnesium, obesity, low intake of potassium salts, a high consumption of sugar , high alcohol consumption, high consumption of caffeine especially in beverages such as tea and coffee, smoking, high saturated fats intake, consumption of liquorice, non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, the taking of the contractive pill, toxic material such as lead and cadmium, food allergy, lack of exercise and stress.

Usually, hypertension (high blood pressure) is without symptoms but typical symptoms of hypertension (high blood pressure) which are reported are feeling dizzy, tired and having headaches. If hypertension (high blood pressure) is left unchecked then blood vessels in the eyes, kidneys, heart and brain can become damaged causing serious conditions such as impaired eyesight, kidney failure, heart attacks and strokes. A man with hypertension (high blood pressure) in his 40’s is 30 times more likely to have a stroke than a man not suffering from hypertension (high blood pressure).

Changing your dieting and lifestyle can reduce the health risks associated with hypertension (high blood pressure). Avoid salt, excess alcohol, caffeine, stress and quit smoking, keep to a low fat, low cholesterol diet which is high in fresh organic fruit and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, this should provide plenty of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, potassium and fibre, take up regular exercise, if overweight try to loss it and try not to reuse vegetable oil for frying.

Supplements that have shown good results in reducing hypertension (high blood pressure) are Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), fish oil, garlic tablets and potassium.

The following supplements may help if you are suffering from hypertension (high blood pressure)
Achillea wilhelmsii
Coenzyme Q10
Evening primrose oil
Fibre
Fish oil (EPA/DHA)
Garlic
Hibiscus
By Stewart Hare Article
Source: http://EzineArticles.com
Hypertension Supplements