Salt is it really bad for high blood pressure?

In my early research to find out how to lower my high blood pressure, I of course came across information on salt. Basically every major health site in its list of things to do to change, included cutting back salt. It is not easy to do because virtually everything is loaded with salt. Like I was shocked to find out how much salt is in bread.

Why salt is put in everything is because human beings, and most other animals have an instinctual craving for salt. In the natural world sodium is in short supply. So when animals come across high amounts of salt, like a salt lick, the animal wants to lick up as much as it can while it is available. It is an instinct level, addictive reaction to the salt being there. So you see animals hanging around salt licks for hour, getting a huge amount of the mineral. And like a crack addict, keeping on licking the salt lick.

So what happened in the food industry over decades, and honestly over centuries, is the recipes that included the most salt sold the best. People preferred the taste of those foods over less salty equivalents, and the people can keep eating more volume of the food. As that instict level response kicks in, the person’s brain on a subconcious level ordering them to eat more salt. To get it while it is available.

Having said all of that I have done experiments on myself and on several of my clients with restricting salt, and with eating what would be considered excessive amounts of salt. I have found that restricting salt actually caused the most [b]increase[/b] in blood pressure. While you really have to eat a great deal of salt to start moving the blood pressure up. Now I admit there are other factors here, myself and the clients that have done this have a far different diet than the standard American diet, and we are getting saturated with other micro-nutrients. So the body is able to balance things out with the other electrolytes and the body seems able to clear out the salt it does not want to have.

But I will note there is growing debate in the scientific literature over the role salt plays in high blood pressure. And arguments that restricting salt to an extreme level seems to not have the desired effect.

Look at this study that I found reference to from Robert O. Young D.Sc., Ph., on his blog ‘articles on health’. http://articlesofhealth.blogspot.com/2008/02/does-salt-cause-high-blood-pressure.html

An eight-year study of a New York City hypertensive
population stratified for sodium intake levels found
those on low-salt diets had more than four times as
many heart attacks as those on normal-sodium diets -
the exact opposite of what the ‘salt hypothesis’ would
have predicted. (1995)

That is an incredible finding. Here they are telling people to severely restrict their sodium intake levels. And patients are dutifully following the advice. And they end up having 4 times the chanec of having a heart attack from following that advice and denying themselves the salt.

This is the kind of thing, which makes you realize why 750,000 people in America a year are dying of heart attacks, and nearly 30% of the adult population has been diagnosed as being hypertensive.

I have a great tip to share with you on salt. It is something you probably already know and when you read it, you will ask yourself why you have not been doing it. But I ask that you join my email mailing list and I will send the tip out to you!

I am careful not to spam my email list, I aim to send out one message containing some of valueable/interesting information related to high blood pressure and circulatory health in general, about every two weeks.

I also do not and never will share the email list with anyone else.