Nearly everyone can lower their blood pressure, even people currently on blood pressure-reducing drugs, by lowering their sodium intake, reports a new study published in JAMA from Northwestern Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
“In the study, middle-aged to elderly participants reduced their salt intake by about one teaspoon a day compared with their usual diet. The result was a decline in systolic blood pressure by about six millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), which is comparable to the effect produced by a commonly utilized first-line medication for high blood pressure,” said Deepak Gupta, MD, associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and co-principal investigator.
“We found that 70-75 percent of all people, regardless of whether they are already on blood pressure medications or not, are likely to see a reduction in their blood pressure if they lower the sodium in their diet,” said co-principal investigator Norrina Allen, PhD, the Quentin D. Young Professor of Health Policy in the Department of Preventive Medicine and co-principal investigator of the study.
Read more at Northwestern University
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