[ad_1]
April 10, 2023 – It is well known that high blood pressure is a risk factor for heart attacks and strokes.
Now new research from Sweden has shown that too much salt in the diet is a significant risk factor for clogged arteries in the neck and heart, increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes even if you don’t suffer. no high blood pressure.
The study was published online in Open Heart European Journal.
The finding raises the possibility that salt could cause harm even before someone develops high blood pressure, said study author Jonas Wuopio, MD, of Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, and the Clinical Research Center from Uppsala University in Sweden.
Salt is bad for heart health due to its link to high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, but the role salt plays in the development of plaque in the arteries has not been examined. , Wuopio said.
“Ours is the first study to examine the association between high salt intake and hardening of the arteries in the head and neck. The association was linear, meaning that each increase in salt intake was related more atherosclerosis,” he said.
The study included 10,778 adults aged 50 to 64. The research team measured the amount of salt found in their urine to estimate their salt intake.
The researchers then captured images of arteries in the heart to check for calcium and blockages or stenosis, and ultrasound to detect blockages in the carotid arteries in the neck.
They found that the more salt people consumed, the higher their risk of calcifications in the arteries of the heart and neck.
The results were seen even after the researchers excluded people with high blood pressure.
“That means it’s not just patients with high blood pressure or heart disease who need to watch their salt intake,” Wuopio said.
He tells his patients to follow advice from the World Health Organization and other groups to limit salt to about one teaspoon a day.
“It can be difficult to estimate how much salt we’re consuming, so I advise patients to limit the use of table salt or replace salt with a salt substitute,” he said.
food is medicine
The lower your blood pressure, the better, said Alon Gitig, MD, assistant professor and director of cardiology for Mount Sinai Doctors in Westchester, NY.
“Everyone knows that high blood pressure is associated with a future risk of cardiovascular disease, but what many don’t realize is that this risk starts to increase” even at the high end of what is considered normal. age 60 have high blood pressure,” Gitig said.
A good way to lower your blood pressure is through diet, exercise and maintaining a healthy weight, he said.
The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet — which suggests several servings of fruits and vegetables a day, with few refined carbohydrates, flour and sugar — has been shown in one study to significantly lower blood pressure, Gitig said. .
“There are two reasons for this. One is that fruits and vegetables contain many phytonutrients that are good for our arteries. The other is that most American adults have insulin resistance, and resistance to insulin leads to high blood pressure,” he said.
Eating more fruits and vegetables and lean meats while limiting sugar and flour will improve insulin resistance. Do that, Gitig said, “and you can lower your blood pressure that way.”
|
Sources 2/ https://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/news/20230410/high-salt-diet-a-danger-even-with-normal-blood-pressure%3Fsrc%3DRSS_PUBLIC The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article |
[ad_2]