Aunt Wu is 58 years old this year, and her family conditions are not good since she was a child, and she often needs to do some physical work, and the older generation has always instilled in her the saying that "eating more salt is strong", so she habitually puts more salt every time she cooks, and this habit has continued to this day.
Last year, she came to the city to help her son take care of the child, and the child often cries and makes noise at night, and she has not rested well since she called the city. One day, when she took her grandson out, Aunt Wu suddenly felt dizzy and flustered, and almost threw her grandson to the ground in the dark.
This made her realize that the situation was not right, and she quickly asked her son to take it to the hospital for examination. After examination, it was found that Aunt Wu's blood pressure had soared to 180/110mmHg, and the uncomfortable symptoms on her body were caused by high blood pressure.
After learning about the past history, the doctor learned that Aunt Wu's diet was particularly heavy and told her to change this habit, otherwise it would be difficult to control her blood pressure. This made Aunt Wu feel very surprised, didn't they all say that eating more salt is strong, why don't you let people eat salt?
1. Why should patients with high blood pressure "limit salt"?
Everyone has heard the saying: I have eaten more salt than you have eaten rice. That being said, you can't eat too much salt, especially if you have high blood pressure.
Studies have found that the amount of salt consumed is directly related to the level of blood pressure. The average daily salt intake of residents in the northern part of the mainland is about 16~18g, and that in Shanghai is 10~12g per day, and the incidence of hypertension will be high in the north and low in the south with the salt intake.
The main component of table salt is sodium chloride, and both sodium and chloride ions are involved in important physiological functions of the human body. Among them, sodium ions are the main component of extracellular fluid, which helps regulate water in the body.
Guo Jiajuan, chief physician of Jilin Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Changchun University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, explained that when excessive intake of sodium exceeds the excretion capacity of the kidneys, it will remain in the blood vessels to absorb a large amount of water, resulting in increased blood flow, so that the pressure on the blood vessel wall will also increase, which will cause blood pressure to rise.
However, it is not feasible for people with high blood pressure to skip salt altogether. Sodium ions in salt are indispensable minerals for the body, and when deficient, it can cause nausea, vomiting, dizziness, fatigue and other symptoms, and in severe cases, it can be life-threatening.
According to the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents", the salt intake of mainland adults should not exceed 6 grams per day, and the requirements for hypertension patients will be stricter, and the recommended daily intake should not exceed 3 grams.
2. Studies from 181 countries have found that the saltier you eat, the longer you live?
Nowadays, everyone's living conditions are generally better, and the attention to diet is also increasing. There are all kinds of "health regimens" about diet on the Internet, which makes it difficult for ordinary people to distinguish between truth and falsehood for a while, such as a saying that "the saltier you eat, the longer you live" and "the fuller you eat, the sooner you die".
This claim actually comes from a study published in the European Heart Journal by researchers from the University of Bern in Switzerland, who conducted a statistical analysis of data from 181 countries and found that increased sodium intake was associated with an increase in average life expectancy and a decrease in all-cause mortality.
After adjusting for factors such as GDP and average body mass index (BMI) of each country, increasing the daily intake of sodium (about 2.5g of salt) will increase the healthy life expectancy at birth by 2.6 years, and by 0.3 years by the age of 60, and the risk of all-cause mortality will decrease by 131 per 100,000 people.
In fact, the study was only an observational study and the causal relationship between the two was unclear and could not be used as evidence for guideline recommendations.
Some data show that the per capita sodium intake in mainland China is likely to exceed 10g, which is much higher than the value recommended by the guidelines. As a country with high blood pressure, it is still very necessary for mainland residents to control their salt intake.
And, in contrast to this counterintuitive study, a large number of studies have proven the health hazards of high-salt diets.
In July 2022, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health published a study in the European Heart Journal of the British Biological Database on more than 500,000 subjects aged 40-69 years after a follow-up survey of more than 9 years, and found that the saltier the meal, the higher the risk of premature death from all causes and the shorter the life expectancy.
At age 50, men who consumed more salt had a 1.5 year lower life expectancy than men who consumed less salt, while women who consumed more salt lived 2.28 years less than men who consumed less, and overall, subjects who ate too salty had a 28% increased risk of dying prematurely from all causes.
Coincidentally, in April 2019, the Lancet also published a related study, which investigated the relationship between dietary habits and diseases and cancer in 195 countries and regions around the world, and the mortality rate of cardiovascular disease and cancer caused by dietary habits in mainland China is the highest in the world.
Among them, the high-sodium diet is the dietary habit that causes the most deaths in the mainland, and about 3 million people died from the high-sodium diet in the mainland in 2017 alone.
3. These 5 salt control tips are shared with you
Excessive salt intake can affect the body in all aspects, including loss of appearance, increased risk of high blood pressure/stroke, and so on. Salt restriction is very necessary for Chinese people, and these tips are worth learning from everyone.
1. Use a salt-limiting spoon well
The amount of one scoop of salt is 2g, and 5g per day is an example, only 2.5 scoops are needed.
2. Replace low-sodium salts
Low-sodium salt refers to high-potassium and low-sodium edible salt, which can be used by healthy people to replace ordinary edible salt daily, but it is not recommended to eat low-sodium salt for people with poor kidney function and long-term high-temperature work.
3. Reduce going to restaurants and eating takeout
A survey conducted by the Mainland Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that the sodium intake of a meal in a restaurant will exceed the recommended intake for the whole day, and ordering takeout is also easy to cause excessive sodium intake, so it is necessary to reduce the number of times you eat out and order takeout every day.
4. Pay attention to "invisible salt" foods
MSG, soy sauce, bean paste, pickled foods, etc. are all salt-containing households, and they should be eaten sparingly. In addition, some foods that are not salty to eat may also contain a lot of salt, such as various snacks such as plum, candied fruit, shredded squid, beef jerky, etc., which actually add a lot of invisible salt, and should be eaten as little as possible every day.
5. Skillfully use natural condiments to taste
When cooking, vinegar, tomatoes, lemon juice, chili peppers, green onions, ginger and garlic can be used instead of table salt for seasoning, which also helps a lot in reducing salt.
Salt is indispensable for health, but more is never better, so you must pay more attention to it every day! Avoid excessive salt intake that can affect your health.
Resources:
[1] Why should patients with high blood pressure eat less salt? 》. The Affiliated Hospital of Changchun University of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2022-09-19
[2] "Subverting Cognition: Large-scale Study Finds That the Saltier You Eat, the Longer You Live?" 》. Bio World 2020-12-31
[3] "The First Global Report on "Salt Reduction" Released! WHO: Eat less salt to save 7 million people. Chronic Disease Community 2023-03-13
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