Saturday, September 19, 2009

Low-salt diet can tackle hypertension

A new study shows that including too much salt in the daily regimen may contribute to high blood pressure resistant to treatment.

According to the study presented at the American Heart Association's Fall Conference, adopting a high-salt diet leads to high blood pressure which remains above goal levels despite taking three anti-hypertension medications.

The study showed that adopting a low-salt diet is associated with a considerable drop in both systolic and diastolic blood pressures.

Findings revealed that salt restriction effectively lowers blood pressure by reducing intravascular fluid retention and improving vascular function.

Scientists concluded that patients who despite taking multiple blood pressure-lowering drugs continue to suffer from an uncontrolled high blood pressure can lower their BP by adopting a low-salt diet.