Dr's Casebook: Anyone can reduce blood pressure by cutting salt

It is not that easy to reduce salt, because nowadays three quarters of the intake of is already in food. Photo: AdobeStock

Last week I mentioned that people with a salt tooth have a craving for salt and automatically reach for the saltcellar even before tasting their food. Well, another recently published large-scale study suggests that nearly everyone can lower their blood pressure by lowering their sodium intake through cutting down on salt.

Dr Keith Souter writes: Significantly, this even includes people who are on blood pressure lowering medication.

In this study of middle aged and older participants, they reduced their salt intake by about a teaspoon a day compared with their usual diet.

This produced a 6mm of mercury reduction on their blood pressure readings. That is about the reduction produced by a commonly used first line drug treatment.

They found that about 75 per cent of participants, whether on drug treatment for blood pressure or not, reduced their blood pressure.

This is the first study on dietary restriction including people already on medication.

Study participants in their middle and older age were randomised to have either a high sodium diet or a low sodium diet for a week.

They were then put on the other diet for another week.

On the day before each visit, they wore blood pressure monitors and collected their urine for 24 hours.

Overall, almost 75 per cent of participants experienced a lowering of their systolic blood pressure on the low-sodium diet compared with their usual diet.

The reduction was consistent across the whole study including those with normal blood pressure, high blood pressure, treated blood pressure and untreated blood pressure.

The fact that such a change occurred within one week is highly significant. It is not a substitute for drugs, but it can certainly help.

Admittedly, it is not that easy to reduce salt, because nowadays three quarters of the intake of is already in food.

Removing the saltcellar from the table is one thing, so is trying to substitute spices for salt in meals. Another way is to look at the salt intake of foods when shopping.

The NHS has a free food scanner app for your phone, which allows you to scan barcodes, which then shows their salt intake. Not only that, but it will show alternative products to that food that you can look for instead. If interested have a look at this link

https://www.nhs.uk/healthier-families/food-facts/salt/#fs-app