(GoLocalProv.com) — Dietary advice in the US for controlling blood pressure has focused on sodium for the past 30 years. Sodium is found primarily in table salt, which is 40% sodium and 60% chloride. This has lead to the notion that sodium or salt is an unhealthy nutrient. However, for most of civilization, salt was not only thought of in a positive way but was near revered.
‘Salt’ comes from Latin salarium, which is the basis for the word for salary. Legend has it that the Roman soldiers were either paid in salt or paid so they could buy salt. The discovery of salt allowed for extended travel and exploration as salting of food would preserve it. Salt discourage the growth of bacteria that would spoil the food. Salt also brings out the flavor in food, making it taste much better than when there is no salt. In fact, the positive attributes of salt are basis for sayings, such as someone being “worth his salt” or the “salt of the earth”.
Salt and your blood pressure
Sodium’s relationship to blood pressure is due to sodium’s role in fluid balance. Sodium is the main mineral outside of all cells and potassium is inside the cell. Water moves across the cell membrane using a gradient, or osmosis, to equalize the concentration of minerals on either side of the membrane. When the amount of sodium outside the cell increases, water leaves the cell to dilute the mineral content. This water can then increase the volume of water in the blood, which can increase blood pressure.
It’s not the food itself that’s the problem
There are very few foods that naturally contain sodium. The vast majority of the sodium in the US diet is from foods that are processed or packaged, as the sodium helps increases the shelf-life. This includes the obvious like canned soups, sauces, etc but also baked goods like crackers and most commercial bread, rolls and bagels. If you did not use processed foods you could add to your food easily up to 1 measuring teaspoon each day to your food, which is quite a lot of table salt. The other major source of dietary sodium is fast food restaurants and most restaurants.
What about potassium?
Although the focus for blood pressure lowering has been to decrease sodium or the mineral outside the cell, there is more recent evidence that if you increase the potassium, which is inside the cell, you could also decrease blood pressure. Potassium is found primarily in all fruits, vegetables, potatoes and legumes. The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) study showed that eating 9 servings per day of vegetables and fruits would lower blood pressure. A serving is ½ a cup and the study used 2 ½ cups of vegetables and 2 cups of fruit.
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I am writing through experience come what may,where blood pressure is concerned, salt is the culprit. Now how to reduce the intake of salt is another matter. I leave that to the experts to give firm guide-lines about the food that has salt content.
A couple of years ago my doctor started telling me that my blood pressure was borderline high and that we should think about blood pressure medication. He pushed harder as my blood pressure crept up. Then a little over a year ago, I read a research report that indicated that potassium intake had a significant impact on blood pressure and heart disease. I started researching potassium and discovered the recommended daily intake was 4700mg. My daily intake was about 2500mg. I researched food containing potassium and discovered that many foods contain potassium, but fruits and vegetables are particularly high for the calories. Since I already ate lots of fruits and vegetables I started looking at what I could add to my diet that would deliver a large amount of potassium without a huge number of additional calories. After some trial and error I settled on coconut water which has 60 calories and 680mg of potassium in an 11 oz. carton. I added two cartons of coconut water to my daily diet; one in a coconut water/banana/lemon juice smoothie for breakfast and one as just a carton of coconut water with my lunch. This gave me close to 2000mg of additional potassium daily. My blood pressure dropped from 140/90 to 120/75 with just this change and it has stayed that way for more than a year. During that time more research has been published which indicates that the potassium sodium ratio is more important that sodium intake alone and in my personal experience it is easier to add potassium to your diet than restrict sodium. By the way I told my brother about my use of coconut water and last summer he tried the same thing with the same resultant drop in blood pressure. My husband’s doctor just started expressing concern about his blood pressure which is closer to 130/80, so he has replaced his regular Coke for lunch with coconut water and seen similar results to my brother and me.
Where do you purchase coconut water?
Pound shop sells coconut milk in tins is this the same as coconut water
Peggy, thank you so much for your wonderful tip about coconut water.
Love my coconut water! Mine is in a can, the brand is C2O, it’s quite tasty. Lou, I buy mine in a health/nutrition store.