Is salt the only thing causing high blood pressure?

According to World Health Organization, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the world. To stabilize blood pressure, people often think of reducing salt but do not pay attention to other foods that also affect blood pressure.

Is salt the only cause of high blood pressure?

In terms of mechanism, inside table salt, the major contributor to blood pressure is the sodium element. Sodium is not only found in table salt, but also in other natural foods (e.g. meat, fish, milk, vegetables), seasonings, and other additives. Excess consumption of sodium rich products increases blood volume in the capillaries and raises the blood pressure.

Sodium contents in natural foods are often low. In addition, ensuring a healthy diet requires adequate, balanced and diverse foods, thus restricting natural foods is unnecessary if you do not have to apply a strict sodium diet. Therefore, in order to have a healthy heart, instead of paying attention to the amount of sodium in natural foods, you should reduce sodium sources from food seasonings and additives added into foods.

Besides salt, food additives and seasonings also contain significant amount of sodium

Besides salt, which contributes significantly to the amount of daily sodium intake, food additives for preserving or stabilizing foodstuffs and seasonings also contain significant amounts of sodium. The table below provides information on the sodium content and maximum recommended levels of commonly used seasonings in the Vietnamese diet.

* Note:

- The recommended amount is based on WHO guidelines, with a maximum of 2000 mg sodium/day for most subjects, except in special cases where strict sodium restriction is required.
- Theses maximum recommended amounts are only applicable when you use only one seasoning throughout the day. In case you combine different spices, the maximum total sodium should not exceed 2000 mg sodium/day.

Processed foods contain many food additives

In addition, you should also pay attention to the processed foods that contain these substances:

- Low salt processed foods with added preservatives or MSG: canned food, pickled foods
- Cold meats: bacon, salted meat cubes
- Instant noodles
- Chips
- Dressing, dipping, seasoning sauces
- Cheese
- Dried fish
- Roasted seeds with salt.

According to a study of the National Institute of Nutrition, Vietnamese people consume 2-3 times as much sodium as recommended. Therefore, you should:

- Reduce salt and seasonings slowly in each meal
- Do not add any kind of sauce to your diet
- Replace usual salt with reduced sodium salt
- Replace usual sauces with salt reduced sodium sauces.

By doing this, your appetite will get used to eating less salty without much influence on your normal eating habits. This helps you control sodium intake and maintain a healthy heart.

Tran Thi Ngoc Chau, MSc.
Head of Nutrition Department, American International Hospital