Blood Pressure
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Limit Alcohol
113. Even without other risk factors, drinking too much alcohol (3 drinks or more a day) can cause high BP. If you drink, do it in moderation. There is some evidence that only one or two drinks, especially of red wine, with nutritious diet is good for heart health and reduce your BP also. Interestingly, teetotallers tend to have slightly higher BP than moderate alcohol drinkers. Moderate daily alcohol intake means no more than 2 pegs (30 ml each) of liquor, 2 small glasses of wine (120 ml each) and two cans of bear (360 ml each). When heavy drinkers adopt moderate drinking, their BP comes down.
114. If you are excessive drinker, bring down alcohol consumption gradually to moderate level as sudden stopping may increase your BP. If you drink, do it slowly, one peg in 30-45 minutes and drink lots of water to metabolise the drink. However, if you are a non-drinker, the experts’ advice is that do not start drinking for the health of your heart. You may be saving the heart, but your liver and kidneys will have to work harder to metabolise the alcohol!
Watch Salt Intake
115. Salt (sodium chloride) is made up of two minerals, sodium (40%) and chlorine (60%). It is the sodium that performs some bodily functions and regulates blood pressure. Whilst it is true that some salt is needed for healthy functioning of the body, it is also important to know that excess of it can also lead to serious health problems, such as increased BP and heart problems, water retention (oedema) and weight gain, osteoporosis, kidney stones, stomach cancer and DNA damage.
116. The internationally recommended daily allowance (RDA) of sodium intake for healthy persons is 2,300 milligrams, which translates into 5,750 milligrams of salt (about a teaspoonful). But for hypertension patients, it is desirable that salt intake should be less than half the RDA. There is another school of thought that although sodium is an essential nutrient your body needs, no one fails to get enough from natural resources such as wholegrains, beans, fruits and vegetables.
117. During most of our evolution, salt has not been a part of the human diet. Addition of salt to food is relatively recent phenomenon. Several epidemiological studies have shown that populations with lower salt intake have a lower incidence of hypertension than populations in which salt intake is high. Thus eating less salt should be a way of life. A recent study found that people who reduced their daily sodium intake from 3,500 mg to 1,500 mg knocked nearly 6 points of their systolic and close to 3 of diastolic pressure.
