LIFESTYLE NEWS - If you want to lower your blood pressure, tablets can help, but eating less salt is key… here’s why:
Eating too much salt can have more impact on your blood pressure than any other lifestyle factor including obesity and too much alcohol.
Reducing the amount of salt you eat can have as big an effect on blood pressure as some medications. “Salt absorbs water and so increases blood volume and pressure,” says cardiologist Dr Dhiraj Gupta.
Decreasing your daily salt intake from 11g to the recommended 6g a day (about a teaspoon) could lower your blood pressure by 10 mmHg. This means it could make the difference between having high and normal blood pressure.
Most of the salt you eat is present in everyday foods, such as bread or soup, so get into the habit of reading labels.
Some only give sodium levels, but anything over 0,5g per 100g is a high level.
TIP: If only sodium levels are given, multiply by 2,5 to work out the amount of salt present.
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