BellaRae - How does salt increase blood pressure? When you eat too much salt, which contains sodium, your body holds extra water to “wash” the salt from your body. In some people, this may cause blood pressure to rise. The added water puts stress on your heart and blood vessels.
McGee - Unless you eat salt like chocolate pudding, it doesn't raise the blood pressure. The other explanation you received is typical of the reverse mindset that the medical profession is handing out.
If you have high blood pressure, prick the end of your finger and observe that the blood is dark red and thickened. This is not the result of having too much water in the blood. Quite the contrary, if your blood was more watery, your blood pressure wouldn't be high.
One thing doctors like to prescribe for high blood pressure is a diuretic to flush out the salt, which is holding too much water in.
The problem with doing this is, high blood pressure is caused by dehydration - a water and salt deficiency. And using a diuretic to remove water from a body that is already screaming for water is insane.
High blood pressure happens due to dehydration when the cells can't maintain the proper balance between fresh water located inside the cells and salty water located outside the cells - and in the blood. These must stay critically balanced to maintain good health.
When you don't drink enough water to fulfill the needs of the cells, a drought mechanism kicks in and, using considerable pressure through reverse osmosis, fresh water is filtered from the salty water and injected into the cells. It's the reverse osmosis process that raises the blood pressure, not the salt. The "excess" salt seen in hypertensive patients is the byproduct left over from filtering the salt water through the microscopic holes in the membrane of the cells to inject the water.
This salt is only "excess" because the water has been removed and it has become concentrated.
Correcting the blood pressure requires an increase in water intake and a slight increase in salt intake. Salt in combination with water regulates the blood pressure.
james_dav_bmcg - mcgee doesn't have a clue, sometimes in some people, who have sodium-responsive hypertension salt can raise your blood pressure because it increases your blood volume.
gentle soul - There are more factors involved in this equation than the doctors or nurses have time to share. Blood pressure is ultimately governed by baroreceptors placed in strategic locations in our body's artery's that sense change in pressures, heart rate, posture etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroreceptor explains more. Beyond that the other factors are osmotic and oncotic pressure that regulate the flow of fluid and proteins in and out of the tissues at the cellular level.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oncotic_pressure THEN you have the kidneys that regulate the electrolytes sodium being one of them, potassium, calcium etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmotic_pressure There are also differing diagnosis of HTN.
gangadharan nair - In humans, a high-salt intake has long been suspected to generally raise blood pressure. More recently, it was demonstrated to attenuate nitric oxide production. Nitric oxide (NO) contributes to vessel homeostasis by inhibiting vascular smooth muscle contraction and growth, platelet aggregation, and leukocyte adhesion to the endothelium. * High blood pressure: Evidence shows an association between salt intakes and blood pressure among different populations and age range in adults. Reduced salt intake also results in a small reduction in blood pressure. * Left ventricular hypertrophy (cardiac enlargement): "Evidence suggests that high salt intake causes left ventricular hypertrophy, a strong risk factor for cardiovascular disease, independently of blood pressure effects." "...there is accumulating evidence that high salt intake predicts left ventricular hypertrophy." Excessive salt (sodium) intake, combined with an inadequate intake of water, can cause hypernatremia. It can exacerbate renal disease. * Edema: A decrease in salt intake has been suggested to treat edema (fluid retention).
BellaRae - How does salt increase blood pressure?
ReplyDeleteWhen you eat too much salt, which contains sodium, your body holds extra water to “wash” the salt from your body. In some people, this may cause blood pressure to rise. The added water puts stress on your heart and blood vessels.
McGee - Unless you eat salt like chocolate pudding, it doesn't raise the blood pressure. The other explanation you received is typical of the reverse mindset that the medical profession is handing out.
ReplyDeleteIf you have high blood pressure, prick the end of your finger and observe that the blood is dark red and thickened. This is not the result of having too much water in the blood. Quite the contrary, if your blood was more watery, your blood pressure wouldn't be high.
One thing doctors like to prescribe for high blood pressure is a diuretic to flush out the salt, which is holding too much water in.
The problem with doing this is, high blood pressure is caused by dehydration - a water and salt deficiency. And using a diuretic to remove water from a body that is already screaming for water is insane.
High blood pressure happens due to dehydration when the cells can't maintain the proper balance between fresh water located inside the cells and salty water located outside the cells - and in the blood. These must stay critically balanced to maintain good health.
When you don't drink enough water to fulfill the needs of the cells, a drought mechanism kicks in and, using considerable pressure through reverse osmosis, fresh water is filtered from the salty water and injected into the cells. It's the reverse osmosis process that raises the blood pressure, not the salt. The "excess" salt seen in hypertensive patients is the byproduct left over from filtering the salt water through the microscopic holes in the membrane of the cells to inject the water.
This salt is only "excess" because the water has been removed and it has become concentrated.
Correcting the blood pressure requires an increase in water intake and a slight increase in salt intake. Salt in combination with water regulates the blood pressure.
Shergill - Hi Saqib,
ReplyDeleteI am assuming that you are talking about 0.9 %NaCl which is administerd IV under medical supervision.
NaCl increases circulating volume therefore the Blood Pressure goes up.
james_dav_bmcg - mcgee doesn't have a clue, sometimes in some people, who have sodium-responsive hypertension salt can raise your blood pressure because it increases your blood volume.
ReplyDeletegentle soul - There are more factors involved in this equation than the doctors or nurses have time to share. Blood pressure is ultimately governed by baroreceptors placed in strategic locations in our body's artery's that sense change in pressures, heart rate, posture etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroreceptor explains more. Beyond that the other factors are osmotic and oncotic pressure that regulate the flow of fluid and proteins in and out of the tissues at the cellular level.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oncotic_pressure THEN you have the kidneys that regulate the electrolytes sodium being one of them, potassium, calcium etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmotic_pressure There are also differing diagnosis of HTN.
ReplyDeletegangadharan nair - In humans, a high-salt intake has long been suspected to generally raise blood pressure. More recently, it was demonstrated to attenuate nitric oxide production. Nitric oxide (NO) contributes to vessel homeostasis by inhibiting vascular smooth muscle contraction and growth, platelet aggregation, and leukocyte adhesion to the endothelium.
ReplyDelete* High blood pressure: Evidence shows an association between salt intakes and blood pressure among different populations and age range in adults. Reduced salt intake also results in a small reduction in blood pressure.
* Left ventricular hypertrophy (cardiac enlargement): "Evidence suggests that high salt intake causes left ventricular hypertrophy, a strong risk factor for cardiovascular disease, independently of blood pressure effects." "...there is accumulating evidence that high salt intake predicts left ventricular hypertrophy." Excessive salt (sodium) intake, combined with an inadequate intake of water, can cause hypernatremia. It can exacerbate renal disease.
* Edema: A decrease in salt intake has been suggested to treat edema (fluid retention).