Whether or not salt pushes your blood pressure higher depends on…you.
Not joking. I’m referring to something about you that can mean the difference between high and normal blood pressure when consuming salt.
And knowing what this “something” is will warn you if you should stay away from salt or not, making it much easier to effectively manage your blood pressure.
But first, you have to take some steps. “Not a problem,” you say? Okay.
Did you know that given an equal dose of sodium (one of the components in salt), two people can react to it in completely different ways?
While one person experience only a moderate effect on blood pressure, the other person’s blood pressure might shoot out of the roof!
Why? Because the person who showed a big increase in blood pressure has ‘salt sensitivity’.
This is one factor that makes the connection between salt consumption and high blood pressure so complicated. If two similar studies are done, but in one there are more people who are salt sensitive, the results are going to be completely different.
So if you suffer from high blood pressure, don’t immediately cut all salt out of your diet – make sure you ask your doctor to do a test to see how salt-sensitive you are (heads-up: this is the Step #2 I was referring to!).
If you’re very salt sensitive, you should focus especially on cutting out all processed food, which is loaded with hidden salt. You should also only buy high quality sea salt (the pink Himalaya is my favorite).
If, on the other hand, you are not very salt-sensitive, you know that there are other factors more important than cutting out salt.
I never bought into the salt myth. We need salt and would die without it. This study however explains why some people’s blood pressure spikes when they eat salt. And why the rest of us shouldn’t worry.
There has actually never been any big, reliable study that directly links salt with big raise in blood pressure. It’s mostly based on studying the DASH diets and they kind of just jumped to conclusions with that one.
What is the test for salt sensitivity? Is this such a common test that most doctors will be able to provide this service? The hidden salt in pre-packaged and processed foods is the main problem.
Or the problem could be sugar instead of salt?
I, too, would appreciate more detail about the sodium sensitivity test!