While it is healthy to maintain a diet low in sodium, fat and oil, a recent article published by the Taiwan Society of Cardiology and the Taiwan Hypertension Society suggests that sodium-free diets can increase the risk of hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
In the article, Taipei Veteran’s General Hospital New Drugs Clinical Testing Center director Chiang Chen-en (江晨恩) cites the case of an 80-year-old woman who experienced dizziness and then lost consciousness.
Tests showed the woman’s sodium levels were extremely low.
It turned out that her family had not put any salt in her food for three years in an effort to keep her sodium intake low, Chiang said.
The level of sodium in her bloodstream was critically low, and if she had not been treated right away, it might have been fatal, Chiang said.
Ongoing research by the National Taiwan University Hospital has found that people who ingest less than 2.3g of sodium per day have a higher risk of hypertension.
That result agrees with work done by foreign researchers who have found that less than 2g of sodium per day increases the risk of a heart attack.
The article said people with hypertension should ingest at least 2g of sodium a day, or about 5g of salt.
Only 40 percent of patients with hypertension are on regular medication to control their condition, Taiwan Hypertension Society secretary-general Wang Tsung-tao (王宗道) said.
Wang said people with hypertension should follow the “722” blood pressure principle, which is to take their blood pressure twice a day, seven days a week, measuring their blood pressure twice each time and then recording the average figure.
This helps doctors to prescribe the right amount and timing of medications based on the weekly blood pressure records, Wang said.
However, pregnant women should not be on low-sodium diets because this would hamper production of body fluids and could cause malnutrition for the fetus, he said.
Calls by European and US medical societies to relax blood pressure control standards from 130/80 milimeter of mercury (mmHg) to 140/90mmHg has caused quite a bit of debate among hypertension experts around the world, the article said.
The article said that some people, such as diabetics and those with coronary heart disease, kidney problems or who are taking blood thinners, should keep their blood pressure under 130/80mmHg, while others should follow the under 140/90mmHg guideline.
However, the article said many doctors oppose relaxing the standards because high blood pressure increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, especially strokes.
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