Prevention is Better than cure; Save your life and your future
You and I need to safe our life it is very important for us to patiently read this article on why salt is harmful to our health. Fellow Nigerians, for to enjoy your 40s,50s, 60 etc you need to read this article in order to safe our life. Here we shall talk about the diseases and helping how to get a way from it.
Salt puts up our blood pressure. Raised
blood pressure (hypertension ) is the
major factor which causes strokes, heart
failure and heart attacks, the leading
causes of death and disability in the UK.
There is also increasing evidence of a link
between high salt intake and stomach
cancer, osteoporosis, obesity, kidney
stones, kidney disease and vascular
dementia and water retention. Salt can
also exacerbate the symptoms of asthma,
Ménière's disease and diabete s. Click on
our resources section to find our useful
factsheets
Small amounts of salt are essential for
our health. Adults need less than 1 gram
per day and children need even less. As a
nation we are all eating approximately
8.1g of salt per day, far more than we
need and more than the recommended
maximum of 6g per day, putting us at risk
of all of these health problems. The good
news is that reducing your salt intake can
lower your blood pressure and the risk of
disease. In fact right down to 3g per day,
the lower the salt intake, the lower the
blood pressure.
Different groups of people can also have
different reasons to keep an eye on their
salt intake, click here to see how men ,
women and children are affected by the
salt in their diet.
Blood pressure
Blood pressure is the amount of pressure
that blood puts on your blood vessel walls
as it is pumped around the body. Certain
factors such as being overweight, lack of
exercise and, in particular, a high salt diet
can raise your blood pressure, leading to
heart attacks and strokes. A third of
adults have high blood pressure, defined
as 140/90 mmHg, and many don’t even
know they have it as it has no symptoms;
your GP will be able to check your blood
pressure for you. The risk of disease
starts within the normal range of blood
pressure, well below 140/90 mmHg, so
most people will benefit from lowering
theirs. It’s a myth that developing high
blood pressure is inevitable as you grow
older, keeping your salt intake down,
watching what you eat and taking
exercise will keep it under control.
Click here for a fact sheet about Salt and
Blood Pressure
Stroke
A stroke usually occurs when the blood
supply to part of the brain is cut off,
reducing the flow of oxygen to the brain,
causing cells to die. There are two main
types of stroke; ischemic strokes, when a
blood vessel becomes blocked, and
haemorrhagic strokes, when a blood
vessel bursts and bleeds into the brain.
Stroke is the third biggest killer in the UK
and a leading cause of severe adult
disability. High blood pressure is the
single most important risk factor for
stroke and salt is the major factor that
raises blood pressure, salt is therefore
responsible for many of these strokes.
Stroke is not an inevitable part of aging
and many can be prevented by keeping
blood pressure under control, through salt
reduction, exercise and healthy eating.
Click here for a fact sheet about Salt and
Stroke
Coronary Heart Disease
Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the term
used to describe what happens when the
heart’s blood supply is reduced or
blocked leading to heart failure and heart
attacks. CHD is the UK's biggest killer,
with one in every four men and one in
every six women dying from the disease.
Approximately 300,000 people have a
heart attack each year.
Raised blood pressure is a major risk
factor for CHD. It causes the walls of
blood vessels to become thick so that the
blood vessels become too narrow and
can’t carry enough blood to the heart.
Over time this can lead to a thickening of
the heart muscle, reducing the heart’s
ability to pump blood around the body,
leading to heart failure - where not
enough blood is carried around the body.
The thickened blood vessel walls can also
lead to clots forming; these clots can
block the blood supply to the heart and
cause a heart attack.
As raised blood pressure is a major risk
factor for CHD and salt raises blood
pressure, lowering salt intake, losing
weight and making other lifestyle changes
can dramatically reduce your risk.
Click here for a fact sheet about Salt and
your Heart
Stomach cancer
A high salt diet increases the risk of
stomach cancer. A quarter of the 7000
new cases each year can be attributed to
salt. The bacterium Helicobacter pylori (H.
pylori) is the major risk factor for
stomach cancer as it can lead to
inflammation of the stomach which can in
turn lead to stomach ulcers and stomach
cancer. H. Pylori in the stomach will not
necessarily cause damage, however salt
can damage the lining of the stomach,
making it more vulnerable to the effects
of H.pylori, and salt may also increase the
growth and action of the bacterium
making it more likely to cause damage.
Men are at a higher risk than women and
there are other important risk factors for
stomach cancer explained in the fact
sheet.
Click here for a fact sheet about Salt and
Stomach Cancer
Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a condition which causes
thinning of bones, making them brittle
and prone to breaking. In the UK an
estimated 3 million people are suffering
from osteoporosis; 1 in 2 women and 1
in 5 men will break a bone after the age
of 50, mainly due to poor bone health.
Most calcium in the body is stored in
bones. A high salt diet can cause calcium
to be lost from bones and excreted in the
urine, making bones weak and easily
broken. High blood pressure caused by a
high salt diet can speed up the loss of
calcium from bones, worsening the
problem. Older people are most at risk of
osteoporosis because bones naturally
become thinner as we get older.
Postmenopausal women are particularly
at risk of bone thinning due to the drop in
the hormone oestrogen which normally
protects bone health. However, men,
women and children of all ages need to
look after their bone health to avoid
osteoporosis later on.
Click here for a fact sheet about Salt and
Osteoporosis
Obesity
A quarter of British adults are obese and
two thirds are either obese or overweight.
Obesity is linked with numerous health
conditions such as high blood pressure,
diabetes, CHD and sleep apnea. Salt does
not cause weight gain itself but it does
make you thirsty, this leads you to drink
more fluids, if the fluids are sugary drinks
they can cause weight gain because they
contain a lot of energy. This is a major
problem for children and teenagers as a
third of the fluids they drink are sugary
soft drinks.
Kidney Stones and Kidney Disease.
Kidney stones are a common problem,
caused by a build up of calcium in the
kidneys. Both a high salt intake and high
blood pressure can cause too much
calcium to be excreted by the kidneys into
the urine, leading to a build up of calcium
and therefore kidney stones. They can be
very painful and in some cases can lead
to kidney disease.
The kidneys control fluid balance and
blood pressure by controlling the amount
of fluid lost from the blood into urine. A
high salt diet can disrupt the function of
the kidneys and cause high blood
pressure, this in turn puts a strain on the
kidneys leading to kidney disease. A high
salt diet can also cause existing kidney
disease to progress faster. People with
kidney disease, or at risk due to persistent
urinary tract infections or Chrohn’s
disease, should reduce their salt intake to
avoid exacerbating the condition.
Vascular Dementia
Dementia is a loss of brain function that
affects memory, thinking, language,
judgment, and behaviour. Vascular
dementia is a common form of dementia.
It is caused by a blocked blood vessel in
the brain which occurs after a stroke or a
series of mini strokes; around one in three
people who have a stroke develop
vascular dementia. A high salt intake
raises blood pressure, increasing the risk
of stroke and therefore the risk of
dementia. Good blood pressure control is
hugely important in preventing strokes so
keeping salt intake down in younger life,
along with leading a healthy lifestyle, can
be recommended as part of a
preventative diet.
Water Retention
A high salt intake causes us to retain
water, up to 1.5 litres(!) of it. Women who
find they suffer from bloating may see a
benefit from salt reduction and, more
seriously, patients already with heart
failure, nephrotic syndrome and cirrhosis
of the liver, will particularly benefit in a
cut in salt intake
Asthma
Asthma is a common condition which
affects 1 in 11 children and 1 in 12
adults. A high salt diet is not thought to
cause of asthma, but some studies have
shown that it can aggravate symptoms. If
your child suffers from asthma, reducing
their salt intake may be beneficial in
combination with the other treatments for
asthma.
Ménière’s Disease
Ménière’s is a rare disease which
damages the ear and causes giddiness
with nausea and vomiting, tinnitus and
hearing loss. A high salt diet can worsen
the symptoms of Ménière’s because it
causes fluid retention, this can increase
the pressure in the inner ear which causes
and worsens the symptoms of Ménière’s.
A lower salt diet is thought to be
extremely effective in treating Ménière’s.
Diabetes
There are currently over 2.5 million
people with diabetes in the UK. Salt can
raise the risk of developing diabetes by
raising blood pressure. People who
already have diabetes can also benefit
from eating less salt because keeping
blood pressure in the healthy range helps
to reduce the risk of the long term
complications of diabetes.
0 comments:
Post a Comment