Blood pressure is the force exerted on the arterial walls when blood moves through the blood vessels. Normal blood pressure is generally defined as 120/80 mm Hg. If your blood pressure increases, it puts excess force on your blood vessels, which can eventually cause damage to them. Chronic high blood pressure can lead to heart damage and increase your risk of heart attack or stroke.
Functions of Sodium
Sodium belongs to a class of nutrients called minerals. Your body requires the presence of sodium to help maintain fluid balance and help transmit nerve signals. Sodium also plays an important role in muscle contraction. Although sodium is essential for proper body health, too much sodium can cause negative health effects, such as high blood pressure.
Physiology
Your kidneys, which belong to the endocrine system, are your main filtering organs. When sodium levels in your body increase, your kidneys allow excess sodium into the urine so that it can be excreted from the body. When sodium levels fall too low, your kidneys retain sodium and do not allow its excretion.
If you are sensitive to sodium, you may retain sodium more easily than others. This means that your kidneys do not excrete sodium properly and instead, sodium accumulates in your bloodstream. When sodium levels in the bloodstream are high, your body retains water in an effort to balance out sodium concentrations. This water retention can increase blood volume, which may lead to increased blood pressure.
Sodium Recommendations
To prevent the negative health effects that sodium can cause, the Food and Nutrition Board sets daily recommendations for sodium intake. Healthy individuals should aim to consume no more than 2,300mg of sodium per day. If you have existing heart disease, kidney disease or your blood pressure is already high, you should limit sodium intake to no more than 1,500mg daily.
Dietary Sources
The main dietary sources of sodium are canned foods and processed foods. Manufacturers often add sodium to preserve these foods and ensure that they are shelf-stable. Some foods, such as milk and meat, naturally contain sodium, although the concentration is not as high as in canned or processed foods. Another major contributor to your sodium intake is adding salt to cooking and before eating.
Avoiding Sodium
One of the easiest ways to avoid sodium is to base your diet around fresh fruits and vegetables. Fresh fruits and vegetables are naturally low in sodium, plus they provide you with a variety of vitamins and minerals that are essential for good health. Canned vegetables often contain added sodium, so you should avoid them as much as possible. You should also choose fresh meats over deli meats, bacon or sausage. When cooking, you should replace salt with other spices and herbs that do not contain sodium. You should also limit your intake of condiments that contain a lot of sodium, such as soy sauce, ketchup, mustard, salad dressings and sauces, according to MayoClinic.com.
References
- "Nutrition and You"; Joan Salge Blake; 2008
- MayoClinic.com: Sodium: How to tame your salt habit
- FamilyDoctor.org: High Blood Pressure
