By weight, there is more salt in corn flakes than in seawater. (Photos.com)
My aim is to improve my body composition, and to this end, weight is relatively irrelevant. However, I confess that I have been weighing myself daily, along with taking other measurements, to get as complete a picture of my changing body as possible.
I’ve plotted my weight loss on a graph. After a rapid drop, my loss appears to have been quite consistent with a bit of wavering from day-to-day except for one day, when my weight jumped up a pound and a half, but came down to “normal” the following day.
When I look at the graph, this day sticks out like a sore thumb. What happened? Well, the previous evening, I was at a Portuguese barbeque (the Portuguese may be relevant, as you’ll see). I ate nothing different and no more than normal. I had barbequed chicken and pork and green leafy salad. There was a lot of my favorite beer around, and I didn’t want to be tempted due to thirst, so I drank a lot of water. So, why was my weight up a pound and a half the following day?
I think the answer is most likely to be salt. The Portuguese put a lot of salt in and on their food. One potential risk of excessive salt consumption is raised blood pressure, which itself is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, particularly stroke.
When I’m in Portugal, I am amazed at the number of not-so-elderly people who have been affected by “thrombosis” (the common expression for stroke in Portugal). My brother-in-law, an expert in stroke, informs me that Portugal is regarded as the stroke capital of Europe. Salt, I suspect, has a lot to do with it.
One thing I remember about the food at the barbeque is that it tasted really salty. When salt levels in the body are high, the body tends to retain fluid (in an effort to dilute the salt). My suspicion is that my little blip in weight was this.
The relationship between salt, fluid levels in the body, and blood pressure was highlighted recently in a study published online in the journal Hypertension [1]. In this study, individuals were put at different times on low- and high-sodium diets, each for a period of a week. These individuals were all suffering from “resistant” hypertension. This means that despite multiple medications, the blood pressure remains high. The average number of medications taken by participants in this trial was three to four. Average blood pressure was 146/84.
The high-sodium diet contained 5.75 grams of sodium (about 14.5 grams of salt) a day. The low-sodium diet contained 1.15 grams of sodium (about 2.9 grams of salt) a day.
Compared to the high-salt diet, the low-salt diet reduced blood pressure significantly: The systolic (higher) and diastolic (lower) blood pressure dropped by about 23 and 9 respectively. Chemical analysis of the blood revealed that this was most likely due to a reduction in blood (plasma) volume.
Those with raised or borderline raised blood pressure may consider cutting back on salt. In the Western diet, 80 to 90 percent of the salt consumed comes from processed foods, some of which are extremely salty but don’t necessarily taste salty. For example, cornflakes, gram for gram, contain as much salt as seawater.
Processed food is the place to look to effectively cut down on salt intake. After that, we might consider limiting what we add during cooking and at the table.
Another nutritional approach to combating high blood pressure is to increase intake of potassium (found in fruits and vegetables).
Reference:
1. Pimenta E, et al. Effects of Dietary Sodium Reduction on Blood Pressure in Subjects With Resistant Hypertension. Results From a Randomized Trial. Hypertension Jul 20, 2009. [Epub ahead of print]
Dr. John Briffa is a London-based physician and health writer with an interest in nutrition and natural medicine. His Web site is drbriffa.com
